Several Palestinians were wounded and more than a dozen arrested after clashing with Israeli police on Friday in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site.
Police conducted a rare raid into the compound, which is also revered by Jews, at the end of Friday prayers after young Palestinians started throwing stones at Jewish worshippers at the Wailing Wall below and at police deployed nearby.
Police spokesperson Gil Kleiman said “several hundred youths hurled stones. They then took refugee inside the mosque and continued throwing stones from inside.”
Hundreds of Palestinians took refuge inside the mosque to escape the tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets fired by the officers who stormed the compound, which lies on the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Stun bombs were fired inside the mosque, in one of the most serious incidents to break out at the site in recent months, prompting Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erakat to condemn a “dangerous escalation” and a “provocation” by Israel.
After a standoff that lasted approximately one hour, those trapped inside exited the mosque peacefully and police nabbed several youths.
“People are getting out quietly, the police are arresting some people,” said Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, who heads the mosque.
“But soldiers are still inside the holy compound. I cannot believe they fired sound grenades inside the mosque. It is truly unacceptable,” he said.
An AFP correspondent, outside the compound, saw fewer than 10 people been ferried away by ambulance and it was not immediately known how serious the injuries were.
Kleiman said 14 people were arrested and confirmed that police had earlier deployed around the mosque.
Several journalists were also beaten by police, one of whom had his camera smashed and film confiscated.
The prayers coincided with the second Friday since Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on March 22.
The highest-profile assassination of the intifada sparked the outrage of the Palestinians and pledges of bloody revenge from radical militant groups.
Scores of demonstrations were held throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday to protest the killing.
The Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000 after a controversial visit to the mosque compound by then Israeli opposition leader and current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Al-Aqsa compound is Islam’s third holiest site, revered by Muslims as the place from which their Prophet Mohamed ascended to heaven. Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it housed the temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and is Judaism’s most sacred spot. — Sapa-AFP
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