Israel Fears Jerusalem Is Now Focus of Uprising

Reinforced riot police and troops kept many Muslim worshipers out of Jerusalem on Saturday in anticipation of trouble on Jewish and Muslim holidays, as Israeli officials expressed growing concern that Jerusalem is becoming the center of the 7 1/2-month-old Palestinian rebellion.

“There’s no doubt that everything that touches upon this open nerve ending called religion has a high explosive potential,” Ephraim Sneh, former head of Israel’s military administration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, told Israel Radio.

“The center (of the conflict) is now in Jerusalem.”

Soldiers in the Christian quarter of the walled Old City fired tear gas at Palestinians on Saturday after youths hurled rocks, bottles and debris at them, witnesses and Israel Radio said.

An Israeli soldier and an Arab youth were injured during the midday melee, Israel Radio reported. The soldier was hit in the head by a bottle and the Arab youth was hit in the head by a rock, the radio said.

Hundreds of frightened shoppers panicked and fled along the narrow, cobblestone alleyways. They had been buying meat, vegetables and sweets for the Eid al Adha feast marking the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

At sundown Saturday, Jews began observance of the Tisha B’av fast day, marking the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans 2,000 years ago.

More than 100 riot police were on guard Friday in the walled Old City, where about 3,500 Muslims gathered for prayer.

Muslim leaders said 17,000 worshipers had been expected. But many were turned back at Israeli roadblocks, and curfews kept about 270,000 Palestinians at home.

Dozens of Orthodox Jews in black coats watched from rooftops around the Temple Mount as a Muslim prayer leader told his flock that Jews “think only with their power and their weapons.”

About 30 police vehicles lined up opposite the sacred Western Wall, the last remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. Sharpshooters took positions on surrounding roofs.

District Police Chief Rachamim Comfort told reporters that hundreds of extra police were stationed in the city.

Separately, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem appealed to Israel to end “repressive measures” and start talking to Palestinians.

Bishop Michel Sabbah, appointed by Pope John Paul II in January as the first Arab patriarch of Jerusalem, made his appeal on Vatican Radio.

Asked what the Catholic Church could do in the face of the uprising, Sabbah said:

“I don’t think the authorities listen to the church or ever will. . . . But here I am, and I appeal to the Israeli authorities to abandon their repressive measures.

“The violent measures taken by the Israeli authorities . . . will never bring about calm, let alone peace, because violence breeds violence and leads to even stronger resistance.”

The 54-year-old Nazareth-born patriarch said he fears the disturbances will intensify in the run-up to the November elections in Israel.

“It seems that authority is in the hands of the military, and no politician wants to take any responsibility before the elections,” he said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources and the army reported no major disturbances in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.