Israeli police shut a compound housing Islam's holiest sites in Jerusalem on Sunday and fired tear gas as dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks and bottles in protest, witnesses and Palestinian and Israeli officials said. 

Palestinian medical officials said nine people were treated for minor injuries including tear gas inhalation. Israeli helicopters were also spotted flying overhead. 

Extremist Jews stormed the mosque compound last week. 

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Muslims' first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and the third holiest shrine after Al Ka'bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. 

Its significance has been reinforced by the incident of Al Isra'a and Al Mi'raj — the night journey from Makkah to Al-Quds and the ascent to the Heavens by Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). 

Arrests 

Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, said Israeli police had denied entry to the compound where the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine are located, but that some worshippers had been there since the previous evening. 

"The situation is very tense in the Old City," Husseini said. 

An Israeli police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, confirmed that the compound known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, had been shut. 

Rosenfeld said Israel had also detained a Palestinian official, Khatem Abdel Khader, a Palestinian official in charge of Jerusalem. 

Shmuel Ben-Ruby, a Jerusalem police spokesman, said that three had been arrested. 

Israel has been working hard over the past years to Judaize the holy city and change its Islamic identity. It has been adopting a series of oppressive measures to force the Palestinians out, including systematic demolition of their homes. 



Agencies