Hundreds of Palestinians hurt in Jerusalem clashes

JERUSALEM－Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site on Monday, the latest in a series of confrontations pushing the contested city to the brink of a violent eruption.

Palestinian medics said at least 305 Palestinians were hurt in the violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, including 228 who were hospitalized. Seven of the injured were in serious condition. Israeli police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who was hospitalized.

Amateur video footage posted on social media showed police firing tear gas and stun grenades, some of them landing inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site.

The latest clashes in the sacred compound came after days of mounting tensions between Palestinians and Israeli authorities in the Old City of Jerusalem, the emotional ground zero of the conflict. Hundreds of Palestinians and about two dozen police officers have been hurt in the past few days.

On Monday, officers fired tear gas and stun grenades and protesters hurled stones and other objects at police. Police said protesters threw stones from the mosque compound onto an adjoining roadway near the Western Wall, where thousands of Israeli Jews gathered to pray.

The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. The compound is the epicenter of the conflict and was the trigger for rounds of Israel-Palestine violence in the past.

Earlier, police barred Jews from visiting the compound on Monday, which Israelis mark as Jerusalem Day with a flag-waving parade. The marchers were celebrating Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in that war. It later annexed East Jerusalem, home to the city's most sensitive holy sites, and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state, with East Jerusalem as their capital.

The police decision to ban Jewish visitors temporarily from the holy site came hours before the start of the Jerusalem Day march, which is widely perceived by Palestinians as a provocative display of Jewish hegemony over the contested city.

Police have allowed the parade to take place despite growing concerns that it could further inflame the tension.

The Israeli crackdown and planned evictions have drawn harsh condemnations.

All six Arab nations that have diplomatic ties with Israel－Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan－have condemned the Jewish state.

The Middle East quartet of envoys from the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations have all called for calm.

Agencies - Xinhua