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Israeli Jerusalem Police Chief Warns of Friday Violence
Israeli Police Chief in Jerusalem District said Thursday that intelligence information has pointed to "a planned Islamic rioting" following Friday prayers in Al Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
Yair Yitzhaki indicated that the Jerusalem District Command would recommend to Police Chief Yehuda Wilk that limitations be placed on worshipers entering the compound, young people off limits.
Yitzhaki also said that the shooting into Jerusalem's southern Gilo neighborhood on Wednesday night was not an attack but stray bullets from fightings in Bethlehem between Israeli forces and Palestinian police.
Last Friday, Palestinian prayers emerging from the Al Aqsa Mosque in the holy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, went into bloody clashes with Israeli security forces, leaving four Palestinians dead and about 200 more injured.
The clashes, which later spread to the West Bank and Gaza, were sparked by Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit last Thursday to the hotly contested holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims.
The visit was seen as a provocative act by the Palestinians who have been haggling with Israel over the sovereignty of the site.
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