JERUSALEM, 10 May 2005 — Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators clashed with police yesterday in pitched battles on the streets of occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities limited access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

A police spokesman said seven members of the force, including two who needed hospital treatment, were injured by crowds of stone throwers close to the entrance of the walled Old City.

“Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators tried to block traffic around the Old City and we were forced to use stun grenades after our appeals for people to disperse failed,” police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby told AFP.

Palestinian medical sources said at least 11 of the demonstrators had also been hurt after being beaten by police.

The situation had been brought under control, he added, although AFP correspondents at the scene said hundreds of police remained in place.

The police had been dispatched as part of efforts to restrict access to the mosque compound inside the walls of the Old City for fear of trouble by a Jewish extremist group which also tried to stage a banned demonstration.

Some 5,000 Palestinian and Muslim Arab Israelis gathered in the esplanade, declaring themselves willing to lay down their lives to defend the site against any intrusion by the Jewish ultra-nationalist Revava group, said witnesses.

No Palestinian under the age of 45 was being allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is in a compound that also houses the holiest site in Judaism.

The mufti of Jerusalem, Ekremah Sabri, accused the Israeli authorities of “deliberately stoking tension” around the site. “The police should be acting against the troublemakers who are Jewish extremists, not against Muslims,” the religious leader told AFP.

“The police have no right to limit access to the mosque and prevent thousands of Muslims from going to pray.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei also warned of the consequences of “any threat by extremist Israeli groups against Al-Aqsa”.

In April, Israeli police prevented Revava activists from enacting calls for mass prayers in the compound to denounce Israel’s planned evacuation this summer of the 8,000 Jewish settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip.

A controversial visit there on Sept. 28, 2000 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was then Israel’s opposition leader, resulted in clashes between Palestinians and police that sparked the outbreak of the intifada.

The Israeli authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about right-wing opposition to the Gaza pullout.

A Jewish settler suspected of planning attacks to sabotage the evacuation was on Sunday placed under a detention order until after the operation planned for this summer is over, Israeli police said.

Israel’s military command put Nevo Ofran, 34, from Yitzhar, near the West Bank town of Nablus, under administrative detention until Sept. 30, in the first such case linked to the withdrawal.