A PEOPLE WHO THINK THEMSELVES A NATION ARE ONE:

A huge Palestinian flag was carried by young men onto one of the Old City's walls -- an extremely rare act in a city that Israel considers its undivided capital.

"We feel joyous. I live quite far away but I walked here for Al-Aqsa," said Nisreen, a young woman in the crowd. [...]

Israel responded to the terror attack by installing new security measures, particularly metal detectors and cameras at approach points and entrances to the holy site.

Officials noted such measures were standard at major religious sites but Palestinians saw it as Israel trying to take further control of the compound, a charge that Israel adamantly denied.

The Waqf, a Jordan-based Islamic endowments authority that runs the compound under a delicate status-quo agreement following the 1967 war, refused to enter until the measures were removed and instructed Muslims to stay away. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah political party as well as the Hamas terror group called for "Days of Rage" against the measures.

Days of street protests followed, with thousands praying outside the compound as part of a boycott. On the first Friday with the new measures in place, protests hit a boiling point, with deadly violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and a terror attack in which a Palestinian sneaked into a West Bank home and stabbed three people to death.

Early on Tuesday, the metal detectors were removed but railings and other new structures remained in place. The boycott continued.

Two days later, police returned around 1 a.m. to remove the rest, sparking the joyous scenes. The Waqf instructed that the boycott continue until it had reviewed the situation on the ground and later declared the compound fit for worship as did the PA.

But while the Palestinian protest movement was called to the streets by the Waqf, Palestinians have celebrated the Israeli move as a rare grassroots victory.

"This cut across all lines -- religious, not so religious, Muslim, Christian, rich or poor," Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian official turned analyst, said.

According to Buttu and others, the Palestinian political leadership of all factions, including the internationally recognized leadership of the Palestinian Authority, had been mostly irrelevant, with the movement led largely by protesters.

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