Tensions Flare in Hebron; Police Mass in East Jerusalem
VOA News 19 March 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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