Middle East:Hundreds of Israeli police stormed the compound containing the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem yesterday, firing stun grenades and tear gas at a crowd of several thousand Muslim worshippers who were hurling rocks, bottles and iron bars in protest over construction work by Israel close to the disputed holy site.
The clashes, which followed the traditional Friday prayers, had tapered off by mid-afternoon, but they raised fears that the confrontation at the mosque compound could spark violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as has happened in the past.
"This is an aggression against the mosque," said Mohammed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem, in response to the police storming of the compound, which is Islam's third holiest site, containing the spot from where Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven.
For Jews it is their holiest site, having housed the two biblical temples before they were destroyed.
In the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth, some 5,000 members of the Islamic Movement gathered to protest.
Israel says the work is necessary to repair a ramp that leads to the compound and which was damaged in a snowstorm in 2004. The work is being carried out some 50 meters from the compound and Israeli leaders have insisted it will not harm the holy site. Arab leaders have called on Israel to halt the construction.
"The government of Israel is playing with fire," Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, told the crowd gathered in Nazareth.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, reacted with little enthusiasm yesterday to the signing of a deal in Mecca between Fatah and Hamas over the establishment of a Palestinian government of national unity.
While there was no formal Israeli response, officials suggested the deal did not fully meet the conditions set by the international community for the lifting of sanctions on the Palestinian Authority - recognition of Israel, an end to violence and adherence to all agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has been hoping that the creation of a national unity government will end weeks of factional violence in Gaza that has left dozens of Palestinians dead and will ultimately lead to the lifting of crippling sanctions, imposed after Hamas came to power a year ago.
US and European leaders reacted cautiously to the deal. "We have not actually seen the agreement and it's important that we be given some time to look at the agreement," said White House spokesman Dana Perino.
The EU said time would be needed to see how it will be implemented, before the lifting of sanctions could be considered.
Mr Abbas, however, will not have been pleased by the comments issued by some Hamas officials in Gaza yesterday.
"The recognition [ of Israel] is not an option at all," said Ismail Rudwan, a spokesman for the Islamic movement. Nizar Rayyan, a Hamas leader in the strip said his group "will never recognise Israel.
There is nothing called Israel."