Clashes in east Jerusalem as 'Nakba' events start

A teenager was shot and wounded in clashes between Israeli police and youths in east Jerusalem on Friday, medics said, as Palestinians launched events to mourn the 1948 creation of the Jewish state.

Palestinian youths fire a makeshift bomb towards Israeli forces during clashes following Friday prayer in east Jerusalem. A teenager was shot and seriously wounded during clashes between Israeli police and youths in Arab east Jerusalem on Friday as Palestinians launched events to mourn the 1948 creation of the Jewish state.

A Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman said nine people needed medical attention, including 16-year-old Milad Said Ayyash, who suffered serious internal bleeding after being shot in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Silwan.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP no live ammunition was used, either by security forces or by Jewish settlers who have scattered enclaves in Silwan.

He said the circumstances of the teenager's wounding were under investigation.

A second youth from Silwan was hit in the genitals by rubber bullets, the Red Crescent spokesman said, but did not give details about the other casualties.

A police statement said three people causing disturbances were "very slightly hurt" by sponge rounds fired by anti-riot police. The foam rubber ammunition is designed to deliver a heavy, stunning blow without penetrating the body.

Three police officers were also lightly injured in clashes with protesters who threw stones and petrol bombs.

An AFP correspondent saw at least four Palestinians hurt as police fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing youths in Silwan, with clashes also reported in Issawiya, Al-Tur and Ras al-Amud -- all flanking Jerusalem's Old City.

Police and youths also clashed in the city's Shuafat refugee camp, where demonstrators burnt Israeli flags, a camp official told AFP.

An official at the Palestinian Makassed hospital on the Mount of Olives put the injury toll higher, saying "nearly 30 people" were injured in the clashes which broke out following the weekly Friday Muslim prayers.

A Palestinian holds an iron key symbolizing homes people lost in 1948 when the Jewish state of Israel was created, during a gathering to mark the 63rd anniversary of the "Nakba" in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces prepare to take position during clashes with Palestinian youths in east Jerusalem.

By late evening, Rosenfeld said, the city was largely quiet, but he expected that police would also be out in strength on Saturday.

"I should imagine that there will be large number of police around east Jerusalem," he said. "We'll be assessing the situation constantly."

Thousands of police have been on high alert across Israel, especially in Jerusalem, fearing an outbreak of violence in the run-up to Sunday's commemoration of the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" of Israel's creation.

Police said around 8,000 worshippers turned up for Friday prayers at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound inside the Old City.

Hundreds more were left outside the gates of the Old City, with police refusing to admit men under 45 who did not hold a blue Israeli identity card, AFP correspondents said.

At Damascus Gate, around 500 young men who had been refused entry staged impromptu prayers.

Police said they had arrested 34 Palestinians youths in Jerusalem on Friday.

In the West Bank, about 500 people, mostly supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas, marched to a square in central Hebron carrying posters marking the Nakba and pictures of keys to homes from which they fled or were forced out in 1948.

Several dozen youths tried to march on a nearby Israeli army checkpoint but were blocked by Palestinian police, an AFP correspondent said.

Palestinian security forces block the way of Hamas demonstrators who were trying to reach an Israeli-controlled checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron following a rally to mark the 63th anniversary of "Nakba" (catastrophe). Nakba means "catastrophe" in reference to the birth of the state of Israel 63 years ago which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Further north, about 20 Palestinians threw stones at troops in Qalandia near Ramallah, with the army saying it used "riot dispersal means" to disperse them.

Refugees in Jordan also marked the event with around 10,000 people gathering in the Jordan Valley town of Karemeh, holding large Jordanian and Palestinian flags, and banners reading "Palestinian refugees will return."

In Amman, nearly 700 people marched through the city centre chanting "Palestine, Palestine, the refugees promise you to return!"

In Cairo Egyptian troops fired in the air to disperse a protest outside the Israeli embassy demanding the expulsion of the ambassador and the severance of ties with the Jewish state, an AFP reporter said.

And the Egyptian army blocked access to the Sinai peninsula to prevent a pro-Palestinian march from Cairo to the Gaza Strip planned for Saturday.

Israel celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its creation on Tuesday, in accordance with the Hebrew calendar.

More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.7 million with their descendants -- fled or were driven out of their homes in the Arab-Israeli war which followed Israel's establishment.

Around 160,000 Palestinians stayed behind and are now known as Arab Israelis. They number about 1.3 million people, or some 20 percent of Israel's population.