Anger over Holy Site Construction Leads to Clash

JERUSALEM (AP) – Anger over Israeli construction near a disputed Jerusalem holy site erupted into violence Friday as police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of rioting Muslims. Protests spread in the Arab world, with demonstrators accusing Israel of plotting to harm Islamic shrines.The clashes began after Friday prayers, when Muslims at the site began throwing rocks at police stationed outside, according to Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby.About 200 riot police streamed onto the compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The officers scuffled with some of the 3,000 Muslim worshippers. Clouds of tear gas rose into the sky and sharp booms pierced the air.Outside the compound near Lion’s Gate, hundreds of teenagers who had been barred from the Al Aqsa mosque hurled stones, iron bars, vegetables and at least one firebomb at police, authorities said. Police responded with stun grenades.The melee slightly injured 17 protesters and 19 police officers, and 17 rioters were arrested, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Officers shut all the gates leading to the complex, and disconnected loudspeakers that they said were used to incite worshippers.The compound is home to the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa mosque and is believed to be the site where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jews venerate the compound as the site of their biblical temples, and one of its outer walls – known as the Western Wall – is the holiest site in Judaism.The Israelis say the purpose of the construction project is to build a new walkway leading to the holy site. The walkway would replace a ramp that was damaged in a snowstorm three years ago.But the Palestinian Arabs have expressed fears that the excavations under way are actually attempts to tunnel under the compound.Israeli officials reject that accusation and say they are not digging under the compound, or even close to it. They insist that the replacement of a ramp would not harm the holy site about 200 feet away.“We have nothing to hide and yet extremist elements with a hateful agenda have cynically provoked violence by deliberately spreading mistruths about what we’re doing,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.Israeli officials accused Palestinians of distorting the construction project as a way to rally their people against the Jewish state and distract them from other problems. Fighting between rival Palestinian factions has killed 130 people since May, and the rival Hamas and Fatah groups announced an agreement Thursday to share power and end the violence.Mohammed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem, blamed Israel for the violence Friday. “I don’t know what impact this aggression will have on the Palestinian territories, but past experience has shown that every time there were clashes at the mosque, it engulfed the other parts of the West Bank and Gaza,” he said by telephone from inside the compound.When Israel opened a tunnel alongside the compound in 1996, it touched off clashes that killed 80 people. In 2000, when then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site, the ensuing riots were followed by years of violence.“There is no justification for what they did today, and we think it was pre-orchestrated to bring fears to the spirits of the worshippers angry about the Israeli dig,” said Adnan Husseini, chairman of the Waqf, the Muslim trust that oversees the shrine.Small protests began this week as soon as the Israelis began excavating.On Friday, Jewish worshippers were evacuated from the Western Wall plaza at the foot of the compound as a precaution.The situation grew especially volatile when 150 protesters barricaded themselves inside Al Aqsa. But police did not enter the mosque, and the protesters began leaving 90 minutes later, following negotiations between police and Muslim representatives.Three hours after the initial clash, police and demonstrators still played cat and mouse in the narrow alleyways and on the rooftops of the nearby Old City.But in other areas of the Old City, the scene was calm. Ten pilgrims speaking Russian and carrying wooden crosses walked down the Via Dolorosa, the path Christians believe Jesus took to his crucifixion.In the West Bank, youths hurled stones at Israeli security forces at a major checkpoint leading into Jerusalem and near the town of Qalqiliya. South of the town of Bethlehem, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at Palestinians rioting over the work at the holy site, slightly wounding three. No clashes erupted in a demonstration in the West Bank town of Hebron.And in the northern Israeli town of Nazareth, about 5,000 Israeli Arabs marched to oppose the work at the mosque.The Jerusalem compound has repeatedly been a flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians, and there were fears the violence could spread.In Egypt, thousands of anti-riot police beat and chased dozens of protesters into side alleys and streets to prevent them staging a mass demonstration at Al-Azhar Mosque following Friday prayers. Witnesses said dozens of protesters were detained.Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit demanded that Israel stop the construction and warned of escalation in tensions if it doesn’t, the MENA news agency reported. And Jordan’s King Abdullah said he would try to muster enough international support to pressure Israel to stop the work, according to the Petra news service.Hundreds of Palestinians staged a sit-in at the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, carrying pictures of Al Aqsa and chanting anti-Israeli slogans. Hundreds of Islamic fundamentalists also protested in the Lebanese port city of Sidon, while 3,000 Palestinians chanted anti-Israel slogans during a march in Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp.In Jordan, about 2,000 worshippers marched in protest after Friday prayers, calling for the government to close down the Israeli Embassy in Amman and send its ambassador home.Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, also called for Israel to halt work on the ramp.“It has potential to disturb the most respected mosque for Muslims all over the world,” said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. “We urge Israel to stop its archaeological excavation works around the holy Al Aqsa mosque.”___AP reporters Dalia Nammari in Jerusalem, Ben Curtis in Cairo, Egypt, Shafika Mattar in Amman, Jordan, and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

Anger over Holy Site Construction Leads to Clash

Anger over Holy Site Construction Leads to Clash

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