The UN Security Council appealed for calm and restraint Thursday after three days of clashes this week at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound between Israeli police and Muslim protesters.

The UN Security Council appealed for calm and restraint Thursday after three days of clashes this week at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound between Israeli police and Muslim protesters.

In a unanimous declaration, the 15-member panel also expressed its "grave concern" and called for maintaining the rules governing the sensitive site seen as holy by both Muslims and Jews.

"The members of the Security Council called for the exercise of restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric, and upholding unchanged the historic status quo" at the compound "in word and in practice," a statement said.

The third-holiest site in Islam, the compound is located in East Jerusalem, annexed by the Zionist entity in 1967 in a move never recognized by the International community.

The council said both worshippers and visitors should be without fear of violence or intimidation while at the compound.

Council members called for an end to the clashes, so that "the situation returns to normality in a way which promotes the prospects for Middle East peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians."