Jerusalem: More than 150 people were injured on Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa Jerusalem Mosque compound, the first face-off on the Sacred Flashpoint site since the beginning of Ramadan.
The Israeli police said dozens of masked people marched to Al-Aqsa canceled fireworks before the crowd threw stone to the western wall – considered the most holy site where Jews could pray.
Eyewitnesses said Palestine threw stones at Israeli forces, who fired rubber-plated bullets and stun grenades.
Palestinian red crescent said 153 people were hospitalized and “dozens” others were treated at the scene. Israeli police said at least three officers were injured.
About 400 people were arrested, the Palestinian prisoner said Club.
Clashes came after three weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Easter Jewish Festival and Christian Easter overlapping with the holy month of Ramadan Muslim.
Al-Aqsa is the third most holy site of Islam. The Jews called it a mountain temple, referring to two temples that were said to have stood there in ancient times.
Last year during the Muslim fasting month, clashes that flared in Jerusalem, were among the Israeli and Palestinian forces who visited Al-Aqsa, causing 11 days of destructive conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Palestinian bag from Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the “riots” Friday “was not acceptable”.
“Easter convergence, Ramadhan and Easter are symbols with what we have together. We should not let anyone change these holy days into platforms for hatred, incitement and violence,” he said.
East East Peace Messenger Tor Wennesland urged “the authorities on both parties to immediately improve the situation and prevent further provocation by radical actors”.
The US, the European Union and the Arab League also voiced their concerns.
Washington on Friday said it was “very concerned” by the events in Jerusalem.
“We called on all sides to exercise (and) avoided provocative and rhetoric actions,” said the Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Solar in a statement.
– ‘Red line’ –
The police said the crowd had thrown stones “towards the west wall … and when violence surged, the police were forced to enter the yard around the mosque,” added officers did not enter the mosque.
But the Director of Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar Al-Kiswani told AFP that “the attack was made in the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
“More than 80 young people in the holy mosque were moved,” he said, added: “Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line”.
Before Ramadan, Israel and Jordan increased talks in an effort to avoid past violence.
Jordan serves as a mosque compound guard, while Israel controls access.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that “there is no place for invaders and invaders in our holy Jerusalem”.
Analysts said Hamas wanted to keep conflict stay in the West Bank and in Jerusalem but avoided escalation in the Gaza Strip after last year’s war, and with thousands of Israeli Gaza work permits at risk.
“Hamas does not want a new confrontation,” said Abu Saada Mukhaimer, professor of political science at Al-Azhar Gaza University.
Israeli’s security source said the Islamic jihad militant group – which controlled the Western and Gaza edge – would be more inclined towards escalation with Israel.
The group warns “confrontation will be closer and harder” for Israeli forces if “they do not stop aggression against our people”.
Along with Hamas, Islamic Jihad mobilized thousands of people in Gaza on Friday in solidarity with Palestine in Al-Aqsa, AFP correspondent reported.
– Spiral violence –
Israel has poured additional troops to the West Bank and strengthened wall barriers and fences after four deadly attacks in the Jewish state in the last three weeks
14 people have been killed in an attack since March 22, including shooting spree in Bnei Brak, an orthodox Jewish city in Greater Tel Aviv.
Twenty-two Palestinians have been killed during the same period, including attackers targeting Israel, according to AFP calculations.
On Thursday, Israel announced that it would block the crossings from the West Bank and Gaza to Israel from Friday afternoon to Saturday, the first two nights of Easter Week, and could potentially keep the intersection closed for the rest of the holidays.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who lost the majority of the previous week’s parliament, has given Israel to force free hands to “defeat terror” in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the war six days in 1967.
Several attacks in Israel were carried out by Israeli Arab citizens related or inspired by Islamic State groups, others by Palestine, cheered by Hamas and Jihad Islam.
Three Palestinians died on Thursday because Israeli forces launched a new attack on the West Bank Jenin district, a week after a deadly weapon attack on Tel Aviv’s nightlife districts. The fourth died of the wound on Friday.