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Dozens hurt in Temple Mount clashes / Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa compound
1) Ynet: Dozens hurt in Temple Mount clashes
2)Ma`an: Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa compound

1)Ynet: Dozens hurt in Temple Mount clashes
Efrat Weiss
Ynet News: 03.05.10, 13:27
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3858345,00.html

Police forces raid site to stop Muslim worshippers hurling stones at Western Wall, seize control of courtyard using stun grenades. Some 20 officers, 60 Palestinians injured. Five police evacuated to hospital in light condition
Efrat Weiss


US Vice President Joe Biden is on his way to the region, and talks of impending negotiations with the Palestinians continue to gain steam, but the Middle East proves to be as volatile as ever. Police forces on Friday raided the Temple Mount to stop youths hurling stones at passersby at the Western Wall after their weekly prayers. Dozens of police officers and worshippers were injured.

According to an initial report, Arab worshippers hurled stones at police forces at the Old City`s Mugrabi Gate. Police forces removed the rioters and took over the Temple Mount courtyard using stun grenades.

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Earlier This Week

Riots erupt on Jerusalem`s Temple Mount / Efrat Weiss

Hebron tension spreads to Jerusalem: Youths barricaded in al-Aqsa Mosque since Saturday evening throw stones at passerby, prompting police forces to enter compound. Stones hurled at police in Old City as well; Four police officers and 18 protestors injured; seven suspects arrested
Full story http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3855426,00.html
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Twenty police officers were lightly injured from the stones hurled at them. Five officers received initial medical treatment at the scene and were evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the city. Fifteen other officers who sustained light wounds were treated by emergency service crews at the scene.

Source in the Waqf and medical sources reported that at least 60 Palestinians were injured in the clashes. The Palestinians reported that the worshippers were hurt by tear gas, stun grenades and gas inhalation. According to the Palestinian, the forces entered the al-Aqsa Mosque and used force even in areas free of riots.

Following the clashes, dozens of youths fled into the al-Aqsa mosque. The police did not enter the mosque. A number of adult worshippers remained in the Temple Mount courtyard to try and calm the youths.


Jerusalem District Commander Ilan Franco on Temple Mount (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

After making contact with the Waqf, the police retreated from the compound toward Mugrabi Gate to allow the older worshippers to exit the site.

Police generally restrict entrance to the Temple Mount compound to worshipers over the age of 50 when receiving information on planned riots. This week, however, police decided not to restrict entrance to the site.


Last week riots at the Temple Mount escalated, partly due to the cabinet`s decision to include the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel`s Tomb in Bethlehem in Israel`s national heritage site plan.

Some 20 Arab youths from east Jerusalem barricaded themselves in the al-Aqsa mosque last week and refused to exit it. Six police officers and two Border Guard officers were lightly injured in clashes that broke out in the Old City. A number of Arab protesters were also injured, and seven rioters were detained.



2)Ma`an: Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa compound
Ma`an News Agency 05/03/2010 15:32
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266160

Jerusalem – Ma`an – Dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem`s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following the weekly Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

At least 15 Israeli police officers were also injured by rocks thrown by Palestinians, Israeli news reports said. Some 200 police officers appeared on the scene, clashing with worshipers in the Haram Ash-Sharif, or noble sanctuary, which houses the mosque.

Forces were seen striking Palestinians with batons, injuring a number of elderly worshipers, and closed off gates into the Old City even before clashes erupted, preventing some worshipers from reaching the site.

The number of injuries amount to more than 60, among them a woman who sustained injuries after being shot with a bullet in the eye, while others sustained injuries to the feet, chest and hands when attacked with rubber-coated bullets.

Israeli forces were also seen preventing crews of Palestine Red Crescent medics from reaching and treating those who were injured.

Clashes erupted between Palestinian teenagers and Israeli forces at several gates leading into the Old City, most prominently at the Mughrabi Gate leading to the mosque, as well as the Huta Gate and the yard of the mosque compound itself.

The compound is the third holiest site in Islam, believed to be the location where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and returned. The site is the holiest for Jews, who believe it to be the site of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and is referred to by Jews and Israelis as the Temple Mount.

The compound is a frequent site of clashes, as tensions run high in the Old City over Israeli excavations and rumors of settlers amassing at the site. Seven Palestinians were detained as clashes erupted last Sunday, with Israeli forces storming the site with discord reported throughout the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said at the time that `tourists entered the Temple Mount and were attacked by 20 masked Palestinians, throwing stones. Police immediately responded to disperse them.`

Rosenfeld said police did not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but surrounded the compound. He added that `1,000 tourist visits continue` in the area.

Over 200 Israeli soldiers and police surrounded the mosque, using loudspeakers calling on worshipers to evacuate the site, Ma`an`s correspondent said. Palestinians responded by using the loudspeakers in the mosque, used to call Muslims to prayer, to urge Palestinians to head to the city.

At the beginning of the week, extremist groups called on sympathizers to gather at the Buraq square, known to Israelis as the Wailing Wall, and march on the Al-Aqsa compound. Palestinians spent the night in the mosque to prevent their entry, it was reported.

In response, national and religious leaders in Jerusalem and in Israel urged Palestinians to prevent the anticipated take-over by amassing at the mosque to prevent the entry of extremists.

Disturbances at the mosque are a central reason for the escalation of tensions between the two sides, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said Monday in a public condemnation of a prior breach of the holy compound.

While Israeli reports of the incident placed blame for Sunday`s clashes squarely on Palestinians, PCHR investigations affirmed eyewitness accounts and local news coverage contending that hundreds of Israeli settlers and their supporters, escorted by Israeli security forces, had entered the mosque compound, sparking clashes.

PCHR condmened the breach in the `strongest possible terms,` and further slammed the `use of excessive force` by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians who had gathered inside the mosque or attempted to prevent `the provocative entry of settlers into the mosque.`

In its condemnation, the organization noted heightened concerns over Israeli control of traditionally Palestinian holy sites, following the declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous Sunday, of sites within the West Bank as `Israeli heritage` locations. The move sparked fears that Israeli forces would further limit Palestinian access to the landmarks.

`PCHR strongly condemns all disruptive measures taken by [Israeli forces] in East Jerusalem ... [and] calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to force Israel, the occupying power, to stop such measures.`


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