THE TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem on Tuesday on a "day of rage" declared by Hamas Islamists in protest against Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in the city.
The violence was another challenge to US efforts to revive Middle East peace talks after Israel angered Palestinians and touched off a dispute with Washington by announcing a Jewish settlement project near East Jerusalem, an area captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war.
In a deepening US-Israeli crisis, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell cancelled plans to return to the region on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not curb such construction, opposed by the United States.
Clashes erupted in several areas of East Jerusalem. Palestinians hurled stones at police and burned tyres and trash bins. Police responded with tear gas and fired rubber bullets.
Some 40 Palestinians were treated at East Jerusalem hospitals for minor injuries and two policemen were hurt, medical officials said.
A police spokesman said some 3,000 officers were put on high alert after Hamas, an Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip and wields influence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, urged Palestinians to mount anti-Israeli protests.
"We call on the Palestinian people to regard Tuesday as a day of rage against the occupation's (Israel's) procedures in Jerusalem against al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas said in a statement. >>> | Tuesday, March 16, 2010
