Israel risks sparking a “religious war” over attempts to increase security at Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, the head of the Arab League has said.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the organisation’s Secretary-General, said “no Muslim in the world would accept tarnishing the Al-Aqsa mosque”.

It comes after Israel installed metal detectors and CCTV cameras outside the mosque, which is one of the most sacred Islamic sites but also stands on the holy site that Jews call Temple Mount.

Access to the area is a contentious issue as it falls in occupied East Jerusalem but is managed by neighbouring Jordan.

Israel is “playing with fire and will only ignite a religious war and shift the core of the conflict from politics to religion”, Mr Aboul Gheit claimed.

"I call on the occupying state to learn the lessons of this crisis and the message it carries,” he added.

"Dealing with Islamic sanctities with such imprudence poses a real threat of igniting a religious war, because no Muslim in the world accepts tarnishing Al-Aqsa or its closure in the face of the worshippers or placing it under Israeli control".

Mr Aboul Gheit was speaking during an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The new security measures were introduced after two Israeli policemen were shot dead by three Arab-Israeli gunmen on 14 July.

Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada The proclamation of the state of Israel is read by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948 © EPA Israel: From independence to intifada Sixty years on, an illuminated flag is shown in Tel Aviv this week © PA Israel: From independence to intifada Young Jews celebrate the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948 © AFP/Getty Images Israel: From independence to intifada Palestinian children throw stones at a retreating Israeli tank during an incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin in August 2003 following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem © AP Israel: From independence to intifada How Israel's borders have changed - click image to enlarge © Independent Graphics Israel: From independence to intifada From 1948-50, the world's mostcelebrated war photographer Robert Capa captured extraordinary imagesof Israel's pioneering settlers. Here, Turkish immigrants arrive in Haifa © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada The Negba kibbutz, where the walls have been damaged by shells fired during the Israeli-Arab war © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum

The move sparked violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis and led Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority President, to halt security co-operation with Israel.

Israel has now agreed to withdraw the new measures.

After meeting in Cairo, the Arab League issued a statement saying it “condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s plans and policies that aim to Judaize the occupied city of Jerusalem and distort its Arab and Muslim character”.

“East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state”, the organisation said, expressing its “rejection and condemnation of all measures by the occupying force to diminish Palestinian rights of sovereignty over it”.

113 people were injured outside the Al-Aqsa mosque on Thursday after Muslims returned to prayers having initially boycotted services because of the new security measures. The site’s religious authority encouraged worshippers to attend after saying Israel had removed the controversial new security measures.