Israeli police arrest 31 Jewish demonstrators at holy site

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.\nIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking on a plane taking him to Monday'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.\n"And this will be a central issue to be raised in my talks with President Bush," Sharon said.\nPolice arrested 31 extremist Jews who planned to demonstrate Sunday in the Old City of Jerusalem, along with a West Bank Hamas leader who spoke at the holy site. But the 10,000 demonstrators pledged by organizers never materialized. Only a few dozen showed up.\nDespite 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.\nAt 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.\nClashes 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.\nExtremist Jews who make up a new group called "Revava," a biblical word that means 10,000, stated openly that their goal is to storm the sensitive site in July, when thousands of Israeli police and soldiers are in Gaza to evacuate 9,000 settlers -- forcing Israel's leaders to pull the forces from Gaza, send them to Jerusalem and, in that way, stop the pullout. The Sunday protest, they said, was just a test.\nIn anticipation of the protest, hundreds of Palestinians spent the night in the mosque compound, ready to confront Jewish demonstrators.\nHassan 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.\n"Al Aqsa is in danger," Yousef said. "The attempts to desecrate Al Aqsa have not ended."\nYousef 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.\nOutside the Old City walls, hundreds of young Palestinians scuffled with baton-wielding police, who kept them away from the shrine. Two Palestinians were hurt, with one suffering a head injury after being hit by a club. Eventually, the Palestinians knelt in orderly lines on the road ringing to Old City to perform Muslim prayers.\nIn 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.\nIsrael has stepped up security in Jerusalem recent days. Security officials say they fear hard-liners will attack the hilltop shrine.\nIn Gaza on Sunday, Palestinians in Gaza fired dozens of mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements, retaliation for Israel's killing three teenagers on the Gaza Egypt border a day earlier, endangering a two-month truce.\nWitness 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 boys ran after the ball, while the others stayed near a partially demolished house about 35 yards from the wall.\n"We heard the sound of shooting," al-Jazar said Sunday.\nHe said he told a friend next to him to stay down, but his friend ignored the advice.\n"He told me, 'No, I want to look,'" al-Jazar said. "He got up ... and was shot in the chest."\nThe Israeli military said soldiers opened fire after they saw the teens sneaking into the no-go zone, suspecting they were arms smugglers.