Israeli police on Wednesday banned a press conference by opponents to Israeli excavation work near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.

Police went to the Commodore Hotel in East Jerusalem and delivered an order canceling the event because it was organized by Hamas, whose activities are prohibited in Israel, police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

The mufti of Jerusalem, the leader of Israel's Islamic Movement and a Roman Orthodox archbishop in the city were to speak at the hotel against the renovation of the Mugrabi ramp leading to the complex known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

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The leader of the Islamic Movement, Ra'ad Salah, has organized protests at the site and police, after arresting him, banned him from the area for more than two months.

The work, which began with an archaeological dig earlier this month, has sparked protests throughout the Muslim world.

Israel says the dig is meant to salvage archaeological finds ahead of the construction of a new pedestrian walkway up to the hilltop compound, to replace one damaged in a 2004 snowstorm. Israeli archaeologists insist there is no danger to the compound.