Israeli police and Palestinian protestors on Sunday clashed near Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint site in Jerusalem sacred to Muslims and Jews that saw similar unrest a week ago, witnesses and police said.The altercation occurred after Israeli authorities closed access to the holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem and 150 to 200 people gathered to pray outside the Lion's Gate, which leads into the compound. At some point, stones were thrown at police and they responded with stun grenades and water cannon, witnesses said. Medics said seven people were wounded and police said three were arrested over the violence.
Police said they had closed access to Al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount, after mosque loudspeakers in the Old City urged people to gather there. "We closed the access to the Temple Mount following incitations to violence over (mosque) loudspeakers," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Witnesses said the call followed rumours which swept through the Old City's narrow streets that Israeli authorities were going to allow Jewish settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa compound during the current Jewish festival of Sukkot. "They want to keep us away so they can impose their will and allow settlers to enter Al-Aqsa," Yusuf Mukheimar, one of the organisers of Sunday's prayer, told AFP. Overnight, a group of several dozen Palestinians entered the mosque compound to confront any such visits by Jewish extremists, witnesses said.
Sunday's clashes occurred a week after several people were wounded in unrest that erupted after a group of tourists entered the mosque compound. Police said the group was made up of French tourists, but the Palestinians insisted they were a group of Israeli extremists.