Israeli police clash with Palestinians outside Al Aqsa mosque

Israeli police clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinians outside the Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem on Monday as Jews visited the site to mark Jerusalem Day.

A police spokesman told Israeli Ha'aretz that hundreds of Palestinians came out of the Al Aqsa mosque and threw stones at a group of visiting Jews, injuring two of them.

"Police forces are on the Temple Mount compound facing several hundred chanting Palestinians," said the spokesman, Shmuel Ben- Ruby.

Police hurled several stun grenades toward Palestinian stone- throwers before entering the compound, which is revered by Jews as the site of the ancient Temples and holy to Muslims as the site where Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Jerusalem Day is the holiday for Israelis to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the capture of Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Both Israelis and the Palestinians claimed Jerusalem as their state capital.

Source: Xinhua