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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police have entered Jerusalem’s holiest site to disperse hundreds of Palestinians who were throwing rocks.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Palestinian worshipers rioted after Friday Muslim prayers at the hilltop site in the Old City of Jerusalem. It’s known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands.
Rosenfeld said police dispersed the crowd with stun grenades. He said several officers were slightly injured by masked Palestinians who threw rocks and two firebombs, but police did not enter the mosque.
The contested site, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is built above the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, is one of the region’s most sensitive. Israeli steps to quell Palestinian disturbances there have led to full-blown riots in the past.
