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JERUSALEM : Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces in east Jerusalem on Tuesday as tension boiled over in the city and a senior Hamas leader called for a new "intifada," or uprising.
As the unrest rocked Jerusalem, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell delayed a visit to the region amid the most severe diplomatic row in decades between Israel and the United States, which has been struggling to revive peace talks.
Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs, and set up barricades with dumpsters and burning tyres in several neighbourhoods.
Eight Palestinians were taken to hospital, with fractured bones, eye and stomach injuries, and dozens more were treated on the spot, according to the emergency services of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said six officers were taken to hospital and 42 Palestinians arrested.
There were clashes near Jerusalem's Qalandia checkpoint with the West Bank, in the Shuafat refugee camp and in several other parts of east Jerusalem which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Clashes also broke out in the nearby city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
As the rioting was under way Hamas deputy politburo chief Mussa Abu Marzuk called for a popular Palestinian uprising.
"The intifada must enjoy the participation of all of Palestinian society," he told Al-Jazeera television. "Every Palestinian should rise up... against the forces of the (Israeli) occupation."
In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip thousands of people took to the streets, chanting: "With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice for you, Jerusalem."
Anger was high among Palestinians over plans to build new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem. The reopening of a synagogue in the Old City further fuelled tensions.
Israel's announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem also incensed the US administration, which had sent Vice President Joe Biden to the region to promote new Middle East peace talks.
Mitchell postponed a visit to the region that was to start on Tuesday, the US embassy said.
Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis after a 14-month hiatus in negotiations, but the outlook for a swift resumption of the peace process now looks bleak.
The reopening of the twice-destroyed Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem's walled Old City on Monday sparked outrage among Palestinians.
Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound -- Islam's third holiest site -- as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there.
Jews refer to the compound as the Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because the second Temple stood there before the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.
Rival Palestinian factions united in condemning the high-security opening of the landmark synagogue, which had last been destroyed 62 years ago in fighting with Jordan during the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation.
"This is no mere synagogue," said Hatem Abdel Qader, the official in charge of Jerusalem affairs for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement.
"This synagogue will be a prelude to violence and religious fanaticism and extremism, and this is not limited to Jewish extremists but includes members of the Israeli government," he added.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, declared Tuesday a "day of rage and alarm" and called on Arabs and Muslims to "come to the aid of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa."
The US State Department took strong exception to the Palestinian statements, saying "such incitement" would heighten tensions.
Palestinians were all the more irate since Israeli police have restricted access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound since Friday and the army has sealed off the West Bank, fearing unrest.
- AFP/vm
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