Israeli Police Bar Palestinians From Jerusalem

Police barred thousands of Palestinians from entering Jerusalem on Monday and sent hundreds of flak-jacketed officers into the walled Old City to prevent clashes caused by heightened Arab-Israeli tensions.

Officials also denied a request by Jewish extremists to enter Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, site of the ancient Jewish Second Temple. Two historic mosques now stand on the site, and Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary.

The stepped-up security was intended both to prevent trouble on the mount, where police killed 20 Palestinians during Oct. 8 rioting, and violence over Israel’s planned deportation of four Muslim fundamentalist leaders.

The planned deportations have raised new anger among Palestinians, many of whom were driven out of Israel with the 1948 founding of the Jewish state. Israelis’ outrage has been heightened by the fatal stabbings of three Jews on Friday, which precipitated the deportation orders.

In the occupied territories, at least three demonstrations were reported Monday against the deportations. Israel Radio said soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a march at the closed Birzeit University in the West Bank.

Police set up roadblocks around Jerusalem to keep away Palestinians coming from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also turned away young Arab residents of Jerusalem trying to enter the area.

More than a dozen members of the extremist Jewish group Temple Mount Faithful ignored police orders against demonstrations by marching with Israeli flags near the site. The Faithful had asked to enter the area to mark Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.