Small number of extremists clash with Israeli police

JERUSALEM -- Thousands of Israeli police mobilized at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site Sunday but confronted only a handful of Jewish extremists intent on scuttling a Gaza pullout by tying up security forces. In Gaza, militants fired dozens of mortar shells after Israeli forces killed three teenagers.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking on a plane taking him to today's meeting with President Bush, said the mortar fire "is a flagrant violation of the understandings" reached at the February truce summit with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"And this will be a central issue to be raised in my talks with President Bush," Sharon said.

Despite the low turnout, Israeli officials acknowledged the protesters appeared to have accomplished their goal of showing how easy it will be to divert large numbers of troops from their main mission this summer -- the planned Gaza pullout.

At the center of the drama is the most sensitive and hotly disputed holy site in the Holy Land -- a hilltop known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Noble Sanctuary to Muslims. It is where the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, including the shrine marking the spot where Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven, is built over the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples.

Clashes at the site could ignite violence across the region, explaining the presence of 3,000 riot-ready Israeli police around the walled Old City, preparing to confront a handful of demonstrators.

In anticipation of the protest, hundreds of Palestinians spent the night in the mosque compound, ready to confront Jewish demonstrators.

Hassan Yousef, a senior West Bank leader of the violent Islamic group Hamas, entered the mosque compound despite tough police restrictions, including a ban on male worshippers younger than 40 and those from the West Bank.

"Al Aqsa is in danger," Yousef said.

Yousef was detained on his way back to the West Bank, police said. He was released recently from an Israeli prison after a two-year term and has been a relatively moderate voice in the Islamic group since then.

In the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets. In Nablus, some 3,000 Palestinians, including dozens of armed men who fired in the air, marched through the streets. In Hebron, about 1,000 Palestinians marched and chanted slogans about protecting the mosque.

Israel has stepped up security in Jerusalem recent days. Security officials say they fear hard-liners will attack the hilltop shrine.

Carmi Gilon, former head of the Shin Bet security service, said that if there is such an attack, Israel would find itself at war with the entire Muslim world.

"Of all the means ... of stopping disengagement, no doubt the Temple Mount is the doomsday weapon," he told Israel Radio.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz called Abbas and demanded that he deploy police to stop the mortar and rocket fire, his office said. Israeli media reported that the talk was difficult, and Mofaz warned that if the fire is not stopped, all the summit understandings could collapse.

Thousands of mourners, led by gunmen firing in the air, buried the three Palestinian teens. Israelis and Palestinians offered widely varying accounts of the incident, the bloodiest there since the truce was declared.

Ahmed al-Jazar, 14, said he and four classmates were playing soccer on the outskirts of Rafah on Saturday when one of the boys shot the ball close to a wall Israeli troops built between the patrol road and the Rafah camp. Two of the boys ran after the ball.

"We heard the sound of shooting," al-Jazar said Sunday.

He said he told a friend next to him to stay down, but his friend ignored the advice.

"He got up ... and was shot in the chest," al-Jazar said.

The Israeli military said soldiers opened fire after they saw the teens sneaking into the no-go zone, suspecting they were arms smugglers.

In a separate development, the head of the Palestinian Election Commission said legislative elections set for July will have to be postponed if parliament fails to adopt a new election law within a week.

Senior members of Abbas' Fatah moving have been urging him to delay the vote, amid fears of a resounding victory by the rival Hamas group.

If held as planned on July 17, the vote would take place several days before the Gaza withdrawal. Fatah could win some political capital if the elections are held after the pullout, which could be presented as an accomplishment by Abbas.