JERUSALEM, April 17 (Reuters) – Israeli riot police faced Palestinians throwing fireworks in the alleys of Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday as Jewish visits to a disputed holy site sparked tensions during the Muslim holy month of Ra.
Violence at the Al Aqsa mosque complex, which erupted on Friday, has raised fears of a return to deeper conflict over the place, as Ramadan coincides with the Jewish holiday of Easter. Christians also celebrated Easter in Jerusalem on Sunday. Read more
Sunday’s clashes were less violent, but Israeli police said several passengers on two buses were slightly injured when Palestinian stone-throwers smashed vehicle windows. Nine people have been arrested, police said.
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Palestinians said Israeli police had temporarily restricted access to the complex – which is also a remnant of ancient Jewish temples – after morning prayers to allow a planned visit by Jews who walked around the site on guard.
Such visitors are forbidden to pray or approach Al Aqsa, Islam’s third holiest mosque, but Palestinians see them as a provocation.
The old city is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured during the 1967 war and which the Palestinians are seeking to make the capital of a future state.
“We saw two groups of them, we started chanting and (Israeli) forces tried to detain me,” said Abu Baker Shemi, a Muslim pilgrim from Acre, a mixed Jewish-Arab city in Israel.
The police said he had taken measures to prevent the visit from “hundreds of” protesters, some of which were masked who were noticed to accumulate stones in the complex. The freedom of worship of Muslims is preserved, police said.
Tensions over Jerusalem sparked an 11-day war last May between Israel and Hamas Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
Hamas said in a statement that “ongoing attacks on worshipers will have the opposite effect on (Israel).”
The Palestinian Authority, which controls the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the events in the Al Aqsa complex had “united” the Palestinians.
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Written by Dan Williams Edited by Helen Popper
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