GAZA, March 8 (RIA Novosti) - Over 60 Arab protesters and several Israeli policemen were injured in clashes on Friday between Arabs and Israeli police at the Al Aqsa mosque complex on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Palestinian news agency VAFA reported.
Protests by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs erupted immediately after Friday prayers over an alleged incident in which an Israeli policeman wiped his feet on the Koran, the Islamic holy book. Israeli police denied such an incident took place.
The police confronted stone throwers with rubber bullets, tear-gas and percussion grenades.
Israeli daily paper Haaretz reported hundreds of policemen had been deployed at the Al Aqsa site, one of the holiest places in Islam.
Clashes also took place between Palestinians and Israeli forces in several areas of the occupied West Bank, particularly in the village of Abud, near Ramallah, during the funeral of a Palestinian, named by Al Jazeera as Mohammed Asfour, 22, who was shot last week during a clash with Israeli forces.
Tension is running high in the West Bank following news of the death in an Israeli prison of a Palestinian prisoner, Arafat Jaradata, 30, after he was interrogated by Israel's Shin Bet security service.
Palestinian officials claimed a joint autopsy showed Jaradata had died as a result of being mistreated in jail, Al Jazeera reported, while the Israelis said the cause of his death remained unclear.
