Israeli Police, Worshipers Clash at Muslim Holy Site : Thousands of Arabs Kept Away

JERUSALEM — Riot police stormed the sacred Temple Mount complex today and fired rubber bullets at protesting Muslims on the final Sabbath of the holy month of Ramadan. Twenty Arabs and three policemen were reported injured.

Soldiers closed off large parts of the occupied territories, and the turnout for Muslim prayer services was drastically reduced. The army, fearing violence, sealed off the Gaza Strip and turned back West Bank Arabs at roadblocks into Jerusalem.

As an army helicopter buzzed overhead and police snipers perched on rooftops, about 1,000 worshipers emerged from prayers and marched around the mosques on the city’s Temple Mount, or Haram Al Sharif (Noble Enclosure) in Arabic.

‘No Fear! No Fear!’

“Jews out!” the marchers chanted. “We don’t want to see any Zionists!” Others cried: “No fear! No fear! The stone is better than the Kalashnikov (rifle)!”

The marchers burned Israeli flags and raised the outlawed red, green, black and white Palestinian flag. Israel radio said a U.S. flag was set afire.

A few hundred youths threw stones at the police station that faces the Al Aqsa mosque, which is at the Temple Mount. Seconds later, about 100 police wearing riot helmets and carrying clubs and assault rifles charged the complex, firing rubber bullets into the crowd.

Some witnesses said they heard brief bursts of automatic gunfire, apparently fired in the air.

Police spokesman Rafi Levy said three policeman were slightly injured by stones during the melee. Doctors at Jerusalem’s Mukassed and Augusta Victoria hospitals said they treated 20 Arabs for rubber bullet injuries.

Ten injured worshipers were carried across the mosque complex on stretchers. One of them, an elderly man, had blood streaming down his face. He shouted “Allahu Akhbar!” (“God is Great!”) and flashed a victory sign.

Four or Five Women Hurt

Four or five women, their heads covered in white religious scarfs, were also carried out on stretchers.

As police and demonstrators clashed, many worshipers remained inside the Al Aqsa mosque, afraid to leave. The Muslim prayer leader appealed to police through loudspeakers to withdraw.

“Go away!” prayer leader Mohammed Hussein called out. “Allow the Muslims to leave peacefully.”

The prayer services took place amid strict security precautions that prevented thousands of worshipers from reaching Jerusalem as Ramadan came to a close. Ramadan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting, is due to end Monday or Tuesday with the sighting of the new moon.

Last year, an estimated 200,000 worshipers came to the city from the West Bank, Gaza and Arab towns in Israel, said Hashem Ashayer, head of Jerusalem’s Islamic Council. Estimates of today’s crowd ranged from 5,000 to 10,000.

The army, meanwhile, said 300 Palestinians were being released from West Bank prisons today in a holiday gesture.

But the government imposed restrictions on Palestinians starting Thursday night to thwart possible violence on the “Night of Fate,” marking the revelation of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, to the prophet Mohammed.

Curfews Imposed

The army clamped curfews this morning on 120,000 Palestinians in Nablus, the largest West Bank city, and neighboring refugee camps.

The army command reported today that Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the West Bank village of Qabatiyeh on Thursday after he ignored orders to halt during a search of the village.

The death brings to 187 the number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Arab uprising Dec. 8. An Israeli soldier and a teen-age girl have also died.