Israeli police stormed Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound today to confront Palestinians who stoned Jews at the Western Wall from the site where the first clashes of a Palestinian uprising began.
In some of the worst violence on Temple Mount, or al-Haram al-Sharif, in the 10-month-old conflict, hundreds of riot police fired rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas and used clubs, rifle butts and stun grenades to push Palestinians out, witnesses said.
Israel's Jerusalem police chief, Mickey Levy, denied his men had fired rubber bullets. Police did not enter al-Aqsa mosque itself.
Hundreds of protesters who took sanctuary in the mosque during the fighting left peacefully following lengthy negotiations with police by Israeli Arab legislator Ahmed Tibi, an official of the Muslim Waqf religious authority said.
The end of the standoff at sundown restored a precarious peace to the highly sensitive site, revered by Jews as the place where two biblical Temples stood. The area now houses two mosques, al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock.
The day of violence erupted after a radical Jewish group, known as the Temple Mount Faithful, raised passions by announcing plans to lay the cornerstone for a Third Temple at the compound.
An Israeli court blocked the symbolic act, on the annual fast day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temples.The unrest began when Palestinians at the mosque compound threw rocks at Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall directly below. Shielding themselves with upturned plastic chairs, the Jewish faithful left the Wall plaza briefly on police orders.
Hospital sources said around 35 Palestinians were injured in the ensuing clashes. At least 15 police were hurt by stones and 28 Palestinians arrested, a police spokesman said.
Earlier today, the cornerstone was carried on a truck escorted by two police cars to an Old City gate and then removed, witnesses said.
"We didn't allow the Temple Mount Faithful to go anywhere near the Mount - we did our job. The cornerstone did not even enter the Old City," Mr Levy said.
While attention focused on Jerusalem, the Israeli army briefly entered a Palestinian-ruled area of the West Bank city of Ramallah to respond to fire by Palestinian gunmen.
Two Israeli soldiers and one Palestinian police officer were wounded in the fighting, an army spokeswoman said. The army then stationed three tanks at a checkpoint leading into the city.
It also reported an exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian security sources said two Palestinians were wounded.
At least 493 Palestinians, 130 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the uprising flared after peace talks stalled.