JERUSALEM: Israeli police clash with Muslim protesters and arrest Israeli Arab leader as Israeli construction work continues amid growing Muslim anger.

Clashes erupted between Muslim protesters and Israeli police as workers continued the renovation of a bridge leading from the Western Wall to al-Aqsa mosque. Muslims fear the excavations poise danger to the shrine's foundations despite Israel's attempts to assure Islam's third holiest site will not be harmed. Israeli policemen clashed with Muslim protesters and arrested an Israeli Arab leader on Wednesday (February 7) as he demonstrated against Israeli excavation work near an entrance to a compound in Jerusalem that houses the al-Aqsa mosque . The renovation works began on Tuesday (February 6) under heavy security, despite Palestinian protests and Muslim anger which were not settled with Israeli assurances the dig would not harm Islam's third holiest shrine. "This renovation is a crime against the Holy Aqsa mosque. It is a (theft) from the Muslims and Waqf places. Israel is violating the international law and it is continuing to desecrate the Al-Aqsa mosque," Jerusalem resident, Mustafa Abu Zahra told Reuters Television. Israeli policemen arrested the leader of the Islamic movement in Israel, Raed Salah, and the Arab Israeli Knesset member Ibrahim Sarsour. Israeli police stationed reinforcements in the alleyways of Jerusalem's walled Old City to head off feared Palestinian violence at a site at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. On Tuesday, Palestinian leaders threatened a harsh and violent reaction if any damage is caused to the mosque. But Israel's Antiquities Authority said it was searching for artifacts at the base of the compound known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount before construction of a pedestrian bridge to replace a ramp leading up to the complex. Arab leaders of neighbouring countries also expressed concerns for grave consequences should the excavation continue. Jordan's King Abdullah said the work could derail the revival of Arab-Israeli peace talks. Morocco and Egypt both called for an immediate halt to the excavation. Israel's opening of an entrance to an archaeological tunnel near Haram al-Sharif in 1996 triggered Palestinian protests and led to clashes in which 61 Arabs and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed. Israel said the excavation work, some 50 meters (yards) from the existing ramp, would do no damage to al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock mosque which is also located on the hilltop compound where the two biblical Jewish temples once stood. A Palestinian uprising began in 2000 after then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon toured the compound. Ends.

ITN Source | February 8, 2007

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