20 Arabs Wounded in Protests Over Israeli Raid

Army gunfire Friday wounded more than 20 Palestinians in the occupied lands during protests of the bloody raid by border police in the West Bank village of Nahhalin, Arab hospital officials said.

In Jerusalem, police barred some residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site.

The army launched an investigation Friday into the raid before dawn Thursday at Nahhalin in which at least four Palestinians were killed and as many as to 20 were wounded, the national Itim news agency reported. It said two generals were leading the inquiry.

In Geneva, the International Red Cross claimed that as many as six Arabs were killed at Nahhalin and accused Israeli paramilitary border police of firing “without discrimination and without restraint.”

Maj. Gen. Meshulam Amit, the head of Israel’s paramilitary border police, admitted Friday that his men made mistakes at Nahhalin.

“There was no doubt there were faults in Nahhalin. They must be examined and conclusions drawn,” Amit said in a telephone interview with the Reuters news agency.

The border police have recently been given the prime role in raids and riot control, with the army working as backup.

At least 11 refugee camps and communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had protests or were shut down by general strikes called to protest the slayings.

The worst confrontation was in the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. Arab doctors said 14 Palestinians there were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Doctors, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the wounded included 3-year-old Nesien Fayad, who was shot in the left side.

The army confirmed a report of two people wounded in Gaza and said it was checking other reports.

Police in Jerusalem took measures to prevent violence at the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount during Muslim prayers on Friday. A riot occurred there during last week’s prayers, and at least 2,000 extra police were called in Friday to prevent similar violence.

In an unprecedented move, Israel closed the Magreb Gate, a key passage leading to Temple Mount, taking control of the gate away from the Muslim authorities.

Police reported that only about 7,000 Muslims attended prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque, far fewer than the 30,000 predicted on what was the second Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan. Many were kept away by curfews on refugee camps and roadblocks outside Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the army said a West Bank youth died of a bullet wound sustained in clashes with troops in the town of Jenin.