© AFP Ahmad Gharabli

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Muslims poured into the heavily guarded Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers of Ramadan as Palestinians protested over newly relaunched peace talks.

Israeli police put the number of worshippers at 160,000 to 170,000, while Muslim authorities said it exceeded 200,000.

In his Friday sermon Sheikh Yusef Abu Sneineh criticised the relaunch on Thursday of Middle East peace talks in Washington, saying "these negotiations are a joke."

He went on to accuse Israel of seeking normalisation with the Arab and Muslim world while "continuing its colonisation" of the occupied West Bank through the building of Jewish settlements.

In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, hundreds of people attended a rally in honour of the Iranian-declared Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

Senior officials from Hamas and other hardline factions called for more armed "resistance" following twin attacks by the Islamist group in the West Bank that killed four settlers ahead of the talks.

"Jerusalem will not be liberated by negotiations but by jihad and resistance," senior Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar told the crowd, adding that it was a "crime" to participate in such talks.

Jerusalem remained calm, however, according to Israeli police.

"As in previous weeks, the police deployed 2,000 men around the mosque. They have not interfered, and the prayer has taken place with the utmost calm," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby said.

The sprawling mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. It is also the holiest site in Judaism because it was the location of the Second Temple, razed by the Romans in 70 AD.

The compound is inside the famed Old City in Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.

The fate of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East peace process, with Israel claiming the entire city as its capital and the Palestinians demanding east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

As with past Fridays, Israel limited access to the compound to men over the age of 50, women over the age of 40 and children, and only granted visiting permits to a limited number of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.

The site has often been a flashpoint for violence, most notably in 2000 when the second Palestinian uprising erupted after a visit to the compound by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israel's prime minister.

The holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, is expected to end on September 9 or 10, depending on the sighting of the new moon.