Tensions Rage on in Gaza StripTensions in the Gaza Strip were still running high Sunday as dozens of Palestinians and policemen massed near the Jewish Netzarim settlement just south of Gaza city.Scores of Palestinian youngsters hurled stones at an Israeli post guarding the settlement, the flashpoint of violence. At least Palestinians were injured in Gaza. Five Palestinian protesters were wounded by Israeli forces' rubber bullets in the divided West Bank city of Hebron and one in biblical Bethlehem as clashes raged on. The bloody clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators, the worst in four years, sparked by hawkish opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to a bitterly contested holy site in East Jerusalem entered its fourth day Sunday. The holy compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary, is the site of former Jewish temple and home to Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam. The Temple Mount is Judaism's most sacred site and the dispute over who controls the holy area is the toughest issue in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. So far, at least 19 Palestinians have been killed and over 700 more injured, according to Palestinian sources. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on saturday night had a phone call with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, urging him to "personally interfere as soon as possible to put and end to violence." |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |