Apr. 2, 2004 13:40 | Updated Apr. 3, 2004 22:12 Palestinians riot on Temple Mount By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Hundreds of Palestinians teens pelted police with stones at the end of Friday prayers at al-Aksa Mosque. Jerusalem police in riot gear fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the rioters.
Four policemen and about a dozen Palestinians were reported lightly injured.
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Fourteen Palestinians were arrested for stone-throwing, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
In keeping with long-standing regulations, police did not enter the mosque but took up positions outside it.
From inside the compound, Palestinians could be heard chanting "With our souls and our blood we will redeem you, Palestine" and "Allahu akbar" as they rained stones on police.
A tense hour-long stand-off ended without further violence after Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Mickey Levy and leaders of the Islamic Wakf reached an agreement whereby the teens were allowed to leave the mosque on condition that they exited peacefully.
Israel maintains overall security on the Temple Mount, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, maintains day to day maintenance.
Police had lifted restrictions on Friday prayers imposed the week before following the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and opened the site to Arabs of all ages following intelligence assessments that the risk of rioting this weekend had diminished. Some 25,000 attended the prayers.
After the violence ended, Levy told reporters that every time that Palestinians riot on the Temple Mount endangering Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below he will order his forces to enter the compound. He attributed Friday's tension at the site to the "Yassin effect."
In other violence in the city over the weekend, three firebombs were hurled on the street behind Hadassah-University Hospital, Mount Scopus, police said. There were no injuries or damage.
Police try to restore order Photo: CNN
Israeli women parying at the Western Wall wait to be evacuated after Muslim worshippers threw stones and rioted on the Temple Mount above