Israeli Police, Muslims Battle Over Prayer Ban

Israeli police clashed today with angry Muslim youths who were blocked from joining traditional Friday prayers on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, where police killed at least 19 Palestinians during a riot Monday.

The police action today came the morning after Israel’s government sponsored a rally that drew tens of thousands of Jews to the adjacent Western Wall to assert control over Judaism’s holiest site after the unrest.

Also today, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Israel would reject any effort by the United Nations to send a team to investigate Monday’s killings.

Shamir said a U.N. investigation would be an infringement on Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem.

Shamir made the remarks on Israel radio after meeting with a three-man panel, headed by former Mossad intelligence chief Zvi Zamir, who was appointed by the government to investigate the clash.

More than 1 million Palestinians in Arab East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza were confined to their homes by curfews for a fifth day because of Monday’s riot.

Army roadblocks stopped Palestinians from the occupied West Bank from approaching Jerusalem. In the city, police blocked hundreds of young men from walking to prayers.

Police turned water cannons on one group of 200 Palestinian youths who tried to march to the Mount. The youths retreated to a nearby street and pelted passing cars with stones.