17 police hurt in Temple Mount clashes
Rocks hurled at Kotel worshipers after mosque sermon, skirmishes break out in West Bank. Internal security minister points finger at Islamic Jihad.

by Abe Selig, Jerusalem Post
March 5, 2010

Rock-throwing spills over into Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter.
 

Seventeen policemen were lightly wounded in their attempt to restore order on the Temple Mount after Arab youths emerging from Friday prayers started hurling rocks down onto those worshiping at the Western Wall.

Having restored calm by use of stun grenades, and following helpful intervention by other Muslim worshipers to defuse the clash, police eventually withdrew in coordination with the Waqf to allow older worshipers to leave the Temple Mount.

Six of the injured policemen were hospitalized in light condition.

Ron Krumer, a spokesman for Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center, confirmed a Palestinian woman was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet and hospitalized in serious condition. Palestinian medics reported 13 injuries.

Police denied using rubber bullets to disperse the riot.

Najeh Btirat, a Waqf official, said the clash followed a mosque sermon on the issue.

"The Friday sermon focused on the Islamic sites that are being targeted by Israel and the need to preserve them," he said. About 300 young men threw stones at police after prayers, he said.

Rock-throwing then spilled over into Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter. Police deployed stun grenades, restoring calm.

Throughout the afternoon, stun grenades fired by security forces could be heard exploding in the Muslim Quarter. The faces and bloodshot eyes of Palestinian medics, who could be seen running through the alleyways, clearly reflected the usage of tear gas. Crowds were milling around waiting for something to happen.

In the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud, some 20 Palestinian youths threw rocks at security forces. They were later dispersed. Clashes also broke out at the entrance to Issawiya, near the French Hill.

From across the valley, smoke could be seen rising up from Ras el-Amud as the young men throwing rocks at police set garbage on fire.

Skirmishes also broke out to the south, in the West Bank city of Hebron, after Friday prayers but no serious injuries were reported. A group of about 100 Palestinians protested outside the holy site known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi mosque.

Last Sunday, Jerusalem’s Old City erupted in violence as clashes between Arab rioters and security forces broke out on the Temple Mount and spread into the alleyways of the Muslim Quarter and the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud. Four policemen were wounded and upwards of a dozen Muslim protesters were reportedly hurt during the clashes.

The repeated clashes in Jerusalem follow Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's announcement incorporating the Cave of the Patriarch's in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem onto Israel's list of national heritage sites.

Meanwhile on Friday afternoon, some 250 Palestinians and left-wing activists clashed with security forces in violent protests in the Ramallah area.

No one was wounded in the demonstrations in the villages of Na'alin, Bil’in and Dir Nizam.