Israeli Troops Clash With Palestinians at Temple Mount

Israeli police said they fired stun grenades Friday in the main mosque compound in Jerusalem to disperse Palestinian worshipers who threw rocks that fell on Jews praying at the Western Wall below.

Police said about 50 officers entered the Al Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a hotly contested site.

They said several dozen youths had thrown rocks toward officers at an entrance to the compound and some of them fell on the people below. No injuries or damage was reported.

Leaflets distributed earlier in Arab parts of Jerusalem had urged Muslim worshipers at Friday services to demonstrate against a U.S. congressional measure that required Washington to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Palestinian witnesses said they heard no chants from what they called a small number of youths who threw stones. The Al Aqsa mosque preacher on Friday, Yousef Abu Sneneh, had denounced the U.S. measure, although President Bush said as he signed the bill Monday that he would not enforce the clauses on Jerusalem.

Thousands of Palestinians have protested the act. In the Gaza Strip, about 3,000 marched through the Jabaliya refugee camp Friday, and 2,000 others marched through nearby Gaza City.

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers Friday shot and killed a Palestinian teenager. Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Zeid was watching other youths hurl rocks at an Israeli army patrol in the village of Nazlat Zeid when the troops opened fire, witnesses said.

The Israeli military said soldiers seeking to impose a curfew were attacked by rioters and fired into the air to disperse them. It confirmed that a youth was killed.