Ramallah, June 11: Palestinian worshippers and the Israeli police and Border Guard forces clashed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City after Friday prayers.
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein said that the clashes erupted after the Israeli security forces broke into the mosque in “a provocative way.”
Hussein added that the Israeli forces arrested at least three Palestinians during the clashes. He added stun grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber bullets were used to disperse the protesters. No injuries have been reported.
Shmuel Ben-Ruby, Jerusalem police spokesman, said that security forces “were forced to enter the complex” after the Palestinian worshipers hurled stones at the Al-Magharebah Gate adjacent to the Al-Buraq Wall (Western Wall) at the end of Friday prayers.
Ben-Ruby added that the security forces arrested three worshippers, one of whom is suspected of hurling stones. The other two are suspected of inciting violence. He added that the detainees were taken for questioning as the rest of the worshippers left the area. The Jerusalem police said that more arrests are expected.
The spokesman added that the Israeli forces decided not to restrict the entrance of young worshippers to the complex this week.
Israeli security forces usually only allow worshippers over the age of 50 to enter the site when there is intelligence suggesting others may try to cause provocations.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the June 1967 War, annexed it, and has since built settlements there that are home to more than 200,000 Jewish occupiers.
Control over the city has been seen as the most sensitive and thorniest issue of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state but the Israel says the city is its eternal capital.
–Agencies