Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.

His comments came days after Israeli occupation troops clashed with Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site.

"It is not enough to say the settlers came, but they must be barred from entering the compound by any means. This is our Aqsa... and they have no right to enter and desecrate it," Abbas said.

The Palestinian president was speaking at a conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah after a spate of clashes this week since a Monday confrontation between Palestinian youths and Israeli police.

Abbas insisted that defending Al-Aqsa was tantamount to defending Jerusalem, which the Palestinians are demanding as the capital of their future state.

"Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and it is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state. Without it, there will not be a state," he said.

"It is important for the Palestinians to be united in order to protect Jerusalem," he added.