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Tensions Flare in Hebron; Police Mass in East Jerusalem

   VOA News 19 March 2010
   Palestinian  youths  throw  stones at Israeli troops, not seen, during
   clashes  near  the  Kalandia  checkpoint between the West Bank city of
   Ramallah and Jerusalem, 18 Mar 2010

Photo: AP

   Palestinian  youths  throw  stones at Israeli troops, not seen, during
   clashes  near  the  Kalandia  checkpoint between the West Bank city of
   Ramallah and Jerusalem, 18 Mar 2010

   Smoke  clouded  the streets of the West Bank town of Hebron Friday, as
   Palestinian protesters hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded
   by firing tear gas.
   Some  Israeli  soldiers  barricaded  themselves  behind their military
   vehicles.  Others patrolled the streets of Hebron in armored convoys.
   Meanwhile,  Israeli  authorities  in  East  Jerusalem  braced for more
   violence  there.   Israel restricted access to the al-Aqsa mosque for
   Friday prayers and increased its security presence after clashes there
   earlier this week.
   It  is the second time in as many weeks that Israel has limited access
   to the Al-Aqsa mosque, which is located on a site that is holy to both
   Muslims  and  Jews.   The  area is known to Jews as the Temple Mount,
   Judaism's holiest site.
   Also  Friday, militants in Gaza fired another rocket into Israel, this
   one landing in an empty field.
   On Thursday, Israel launched airstrikes on several targets in the Gaza
   Strip, in apparent retaliation for a rocket fired from the Palestinian
   territory that killed a Thai farm worker in southern Israel.
   Witnesses  said  the  Israeli  strikes  hit smuggling tunnels near the
   Gaza-Egypt  border,  a workshop in Gaza City, and an open field.  Two
   people were reported injured.
   The Israeli military had no comment.
   Israeli  officials  had  vowed  a strong response to Thursday's deadly
   rocket  attack,  which the al-Qaida-inspired group Ansar al-Sunna said
   it  carried  out  in  retaliation for "Zionist aggression" against its
   people in Jerusalem and assaults on Islamic holy sites in the region.

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