Arab protesters, Israeli police clash in East Jerusalem

Clashes erupted on Tuesday morning in a disputed section of Jerusalem, amid simmering tensions triggered by what the Palestinians called an Israeli attempt to "judaize" the holy city.

No injury has so far been reported in the ongoing brawl in East Jerusalem, where Arab protesters hurled stones at Israeli police forces and set tires on fire and the latter responded with stun grenades.

The fighting came in the wake of weeks of high tensions in the predominantly Arab section of Jerusalem the Palestinians want to be the capital of their future state.

Over the past few days, the Israeli police has maintained a heavy presence in the area and the Israeli army has also sealed off the West Bank and limited the access of Palestinian worshippers to the holy city.

The Palestinian Hamas movement called for a "day of rage" against the Jewish state in response to the Monday restoration of a synagogue in the Old City in East Jerusalem.

Palestinians have also accused Israel of attempting to tighten its grip of the Palestinian territories through a series of other unilateral moves, including listing two holy sites in the West Bank as Israeli heritage and greenlighting a construction project in East Jerusalem just as the two Middle East foes had just agreed to enter U.S.-mediated indirect talks.

Source: Xinhua