Violence Spreads in Jerusalem; 3 Die, 100 Hurt Near Mosque

The battles between Israelis and Palestinians spread into the heart of this disputed city Friday as Israel’s security forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians near Al Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, killing three people and wounding nearly 100.

In all, seven Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were reported killed Friday during a fourth day of the clashes that have plunged the Israeli-Palestinian peace process into unprecedented crisis. Since Tuesday, at least 53 Palestinians and 14 Israelis--almost all of the Israeli casualties being soldiers--have died in the unrest.

Palestinian and Israeli witnesses gave differing accounts of what triggered the shootings at the mosque compound, an area that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount. Israeli officials say police were provoked by stone-throwers, but Palestinians denied it.

As word spread of casualties at the mosque, new confrontations broke out in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between Palestinians and Israeli troops, despite appeals for calm by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and stepped-up efforts by his police forces to quell the violence.

Meanwhile, the Clinton administration said Friday that it was close to arranging a meeting between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to end the crisis. The meeting could come as early as today after the Jewish Sabbath ends at sundown, perhaps on the border of Israel and the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher spent much of Friday in intense telephone conversations with Netanyahu, Arafat, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Mideast officials in his effort to restart the faltering peace process.

“We are very hopeful that a meeting will be held quite soon between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns told reporters in New York, where Christopher has been for the opening of the 51st annual U.N. General Assembly.

But Netanyahu was uncompromising in a news conference Friday, defending his government’s actions and declaring that Israelis are fighting for the right “to live here in real peace.”

Joined by top security and intelligence officials, Netanyahu said he is committed to the peace process and accused Palestinian leaders of working against it by inciting demonstrators to violence. “I suggest to the Palestinian Authority and to he who stands at its head to drop the idea of achieving things by violence, terror and the killing field,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also defended his decision to allow the opening this week of an ancient tunnel near Al Aqsa mosque, a middle-of-the-night operation that outraged Palestinians and touched off this week’s deadly rioting.

Palestinians said the tunnel could undermine the foundations of the mosque and that they viewed its completion as a move aimed at strengthening Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem. Many Palestinians describe Al Aqsa, the most significant Muslim shrine outside Saudi Arabia, as a political and spiritual “red line” on which there can be no compromise.

The incident was not the first time Israeli forces have fired on Palestinians at Al Aqsa. In October 1990, at least 17 Palestinian protesters were killed there by Israeli troops.

Al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock now stand where the Second Temple stood before it was destroyed by Romans. Israelis still call it the Temple Mount, and the Western Wall of the Second Temple--the holiest place in Judaism--still stands.

The area, so central to both religions, became a focus of conflict again Friday when Israeli forces shot at worshipers and demonstrators inside the mosque compound. Several witnesses also said bullets entered the mosque itself, striking several people inside and damaging chandeliers.

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Before the shooting, the cobbled alleys of the Old City were unusually quiet for a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer. Merchants had closed shops in a general strike called by the Palestinian Authority to protest the violence; a smaller-than-usual crowd was attending midday prayer at the area’s two mosques, Al Aqsa and the gold-leafed Dome of the Rock.

Imam Mohammed Hussein had just finished his sermon, in which he called on Muslims to defend Al Aqsa and try to fight against the Israeli-opened passage, which skirts the mosque compound. “This tunnel is a crime against God and Al Aqsa,” Hussein said.

Palestinian and Israeli witnesses gave differing accounts of what happened next. Some said those inside the mosque compound did nothing to provoke the shooting. Others said they saw stones thrown in the direction of border police, who were standing on walls and roofs to the east and west of the mosque as protesters yelled “Down with the occupation!” and “God is great!”

A European relief worker said that just before the shooting, he saw a crowd of protesters advancing on 15 or so Israeli police standing atop a staircase near the Dome of the Rock.

Israeli officials said the border police then opened fire with tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. But doctors at Jerusalem’s Makassed Hospital said they also removed fragments of bullets from some of the dead and wounded.

Some of the injured also were beaten with clubs carried by the border police, doctors said.

Chaos ensued as victims, some bleeding from head wounds, were rushed through the narrow streets of the Old City and into private cars so they could be driven to hospitals. Palestinians on the scene said Israeli police refused to allow ambulances in the walled Old City to evacuate the wounded.

“People were still on their knees praying when they opened fire,” said Hussein Adib, 47, a Hilton Hotel employee who was in the mosque when the shooting started. “Bullets were flying over our heads.”

Palestinian journalist Ziad Abed said a section of the plaza’s rock floor a few yards from the mosque’s main entrance was spattered with blood.

Sheik Mohammed Jamal, a member of Jerusalem’s Supreme Muslim Religious Council, angrily denounced Netanyahu after the shooting. “I am sure that this person is not a human being,” Jamal said as he slowly walked away from the mosque. “He’s a big devil who kills people in this holy city.”

Israeli Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani said Israel’s police had acted only after “thousands of rocks” rained down on them and threatened worshipers at the Western Wall. He dismissed as lies witness accounts that bullets had entered the mosque and said Palestinian demonstrators had tried to attack Israeli police. “I am not going to apologize if someone attacks me,” he said.

But the shooting was far from the only violence Friday. There were reports of stone-throwing, demonstrations and skirmishes across the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

At Rafah, on the border with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and gunmen firing from Egyptian territory, although it was unclear if the shooters were Egyptian or Palestinian. An Israeli colonel was killed in the battle.

In the West Bank, confrontations took place between Palestinians and Israelis in numerous areas, including Tulkarm, Janin, Bethlehem, Kalqilya and Jericho.

In Tulkarm, two Israeli border police and a Palestinian were killed in a gunfight. Two Palestinian police were killed and almost a dozen were wounded in Jericho when they attacked an Israeli army post.

But elsewhere, Palestinian police tried to keep thousands of demonstrators from marching on Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks, using clubs at times to try to force the protesters to turn back.

Times staff writer Norman Kempster in New York and Batsheva Sobelman and Summer Assad of The Times’ Jerusalem Bureau contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Violence on Holy Ground

Israeli police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Friday to disperse thousands of Palestinian stone throwers in riots at Al Aqsa mosque compound.

* ARABS BLAME NETANYAHU

Even friendly nations condemn Israel’s prime minister. A9

* RELATED COVERAGE: A8-10