Palestinians clash with Israel police at Jerusalem holy site

Palestinians protested after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem and briefly clashed with Israeli police, leaving three demonstrators injured. A series of far more violent clashes at the site in April and May helped ignite last month’s 11-day Gaza war. The site is the third holiest in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the biblical temples. It has frequently been the scene of Israeli-Palestinian violence. This time, the police refrained from entering the compound and appeared to act with more restraint, possibly on the orders of Israel’s newly sworn-in government. The Red Crescent emergency service said two Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets and a third by a stone that was thrown. Hundreds demonstrated after Friday prayers in response to a rally held by Jewish ultranationalists on Tuesday in which dozens had chanted “Death to Arabs” and “May your village burn.” The Palestinians protested against insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, after online video showed some of the participants in the Tuesday march denigrating him.

By africanews