Posted on 02/09/2007 7:39:10 AM PST by NYer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police forces entered the area around Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and fired stun grenades at stone-throwing Palestinian worshippers in clashes at the end of Friday prayers.
Muslim leaders had called for protests over excavations near Islam's third holiest shrine. Arab states had asked Israel to halt the work, charging it could undermine the foundations of Al-Aqsa. Israel says the work will do no damage.
A police spokesman at the scene said 15 policemen and nine protesters had been lightly injured in the clashes. Seventeen people were arrested, some of them in the streets outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Police estimated that 9,000 worshippers prayed at the site on Friday. Dozens were stuck inside the mosque as stone-throwers clashed with police outside on the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.
"Police have used stun grenades and are in full control of the Temple Mount. They are working cautiously in order to disperse the rioters," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
He said police did not fire rubber bullets as initially reported by Israel Radio.
Only women and men aged over 45 had been allowed to participate in prayers because of fears of riots.
The ZAKA emergency service reported stone-throwing incidents had taken place at other points around Jerusalem. There were no reports of casualties in those incidents.
ZAKA added that police were being diverted to the north of the country to prepare for possible unrest at a major protest in expected later on Friday in the city of Nazareth.
In Hebron in the occupied West Bank, local witnesses said the Israeli army closed the center of the city after youths threw stones and burned tires. Three people were treated at a local hospital for tear gas inhalation.
Rosenfeld said police were working with Israeli Arab lawmakers and clerics to disperse worshipers who were enclosed inside the mosque after police closed the doors on them.
An Israeli border policeman fires a tear gas canister during clashes in Jerusalem's Old City February 9, 2007. REUTERS/Yonathan Weitzman
Video at above link.
Ping!
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
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For once Reuters got a headline right.
Muslims rioting and throwing rocks, described as worshipers.
They'll probably change it.
I'd recommend fragmentation grenades, next time. Maybe a bit of Willy Pete, as well.
This story is misleading.....The muslumps started the whole thing by stoning the Jewish worshipers at the Wailing Wall...The ramp being built is 60 YARDS from the muslumps den of the alien space rock. White, drug addicted liberals will take this story and run with it.
More of the SOS from the "religion" of perpetual outrage
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
"Stone throwing Palestinians", is there any other kind?
How do you get a Palestinian kid to throw a rock?
Point a TV camera at him.
Things are starting to heat up.
There has been enough excavation by the muslim caretakers that the foundation is very bad as it is. I think that may be why such a fuss is being made. They (the Al Aqsa caretakers) probably know a massive cave in is coming.
Sometimes I just wish God would send fire from heaven as he did in the Old Testament to show that their "god" is not The Lord, God.
The jihadists want this to become an all out war. Then they will have the media on their side that will blame the Israelis.
DAMN when Muslum prayers start becoming like Raider games after the games
Molester moe's murderous mobsters promoting peas for a millenia and a half now. Ah the "religin" of peas, cant ya just feel the love....
Stay tuned.
Israel should just bulldoze Al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock and be done with it. If the dirty arabs get in the way, give them the Rachel Corrie treatment. Jerusalem belongs to Israel and the Temple Mount should have the Third Temple sitting on top of it, not some shrine to a "religion" that only preaches violence and savagery.
IS THIS "ISRAEL" OR NOT, DAMMIT? CRACK DOWN ON THESE SAVAGES. CLOSE THE MOSQUES DOWN. ENFORCE ORDER. WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM?
Destroy the jihadists and have a "fait accompli" situation. Allahu fubar!
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