Israel bolsters police patrols amid spiraling violence

JERUSALEM — Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters Saturday outside Jerusalem’s Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan, in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city’s worst religious unrest in several years. Earlier, police blocked busloads of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem to worship.

Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by

Muslims who accuse Israel of threatening their freedom of worship. Competing claims in east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, lie at the heart of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and have triggered major rounds of violence in the past.

The unrest came a day after violence in which Palestinian medics said more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the AlAqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem. Friday’s violence drew condemnations from Israel’s Arab allies and calls for calm from the United States and Europe and the United Nations, and prompted the Arab League to schedule an emergency meeting on Monday.

Police chief Koby Shabtai said he was deploying more police in Jerusalem following Friday night’s clashes, which left 18 police officers wounded.

“The right to demonstrate will be respected but public disturbances will be met with force and zero tolerance,” Shabtai said.

After weeks of nightly violence, Israelis and Palestinians were bracing for more conflict in the coming days. Saturday night was “Laylat alQadr” or the “Night of Destiny,” the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic authorities estimated 90,000 people were gathered for nighttime prayers at AlAqsa.

Paramilitary border police marched along the streets of east Jerusalem in full riot gear, with some mounted on horses. In one instance, police clashed with protesters outside the Old City’s

Damascus Gate after being pelted with water bottles. Police used a water cannon and fired stun grenades as they moved through the area. Medics said 64 Palestinians were wounded.

Earlier, police reported clashes in the Old City and in the nearby east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are fighting attempts by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes.