DATE=09/29/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)
NUMBER=2-267258
BYLINE=ROSS DUNN
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Israeli riot police have shot and killed at least four Palestinians and wounded scores more in clashes today/Friday in Jerusalem. Ross Dunn reports it was the second day of violence at a site sacred to Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem's walled Old City.
TEXT:
/// AMBIENT SOUND OF AMBULANCE SIRENS AND THEN SHOOTING, FULL UP AND FADE UNDER ///
The fighting started Friday noon after Muslim prayers at the area Muslims call Haram Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
As thousands of worshipers emerged from mosques at the compound inside the walled Old City, witnesses said some threw stones at Israeli security forces posted outside gates and along the surrounding walls.
Israeli police initially sheltered behind plastic shields and fired back at the Palestinian crowds with rubber coated metal bullets.
But as the violence continued, Israeli snipers used live ammunition in an attempt to quell the rioting. Israeli Police Chief Yehuda Wilk says the live sniper fire was aimed at protesters thought to be endangering the security forces.
The second day of clashes followed Thursday's visit to the site by Israeli opposition Leader, Ariel Sharon.
Mr. Sharon insists that Jews must also have free access to the area, which they refer to as the Temple Mount, site of the holy Jewish Temples in biblical times and the holiest place in the Jewish world.
The clashes in Jerusalem follow other incidents of violence in recent days.
On Wednesday, an Israeli soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack outside a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
And Friday, a Palestinian policeman on a joint patrol with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, suddenly opened fire on the soldiers, killing one of them.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Israel radio that he had telephoned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
/// BARAK ACT IN HEBREW FULL UP AND THEN FADE UNDER ///
Prime Minister Barak urged Mr. Arafat to take urgent steps to prevent more bloodshed.
The latest violence comes with the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks deadlocked over the Temple Mount or Haram Sharif, the most hotly contested site in the Middle East.
The Palestinians are demanding sovereignty at the shrine as part of any final peace treaty with the Jewish State.
Israel, which gained control of the shrine following the 1967 Middle East War, allows Muslims day-to-day running of the area.
But Mr. Barak insists that no Israeli leader can ever give up Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount. (SIGNED)
NEB/RD/GE/JP
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