Israel arrests 8 Palestinians in Jerusalem

Israeli forces arrested four more Palestinians Wednesday afternoon following clashes in East Jerusalem, the Israeli police have said.

Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Twitter that Israeli forces had arrested four Palestinians while dispersing a protest near Jerusalem's Old City, bringing the total number of Palestinians arrested by Israel on Wednesday to eight.

Israeli forces also detained four other Palestinians during clashes with Palestinian protesters inside the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex earlier on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said a Palestinian security guard had been among those detained by Israeli forces inside the mosque complex.

Earlier Wednesday, a group of extremist Jewish settlers forced their way into the mosque compound after Israeli forces clashed with Muslim worshippers.

Eyewitnesses also said that Israeli police had attacked dozens of worshippers and religious students outside the mosque complex.

Tension has been running high in East Jerusalem since Israel closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday after an extremist rabbi was injured in a west Jerusalem shooting.

Israeli authorities reopened the Al-Aqsa on Friday following a day of violent clashes with Palestinian protesters, but barred male Muslim worshippers under 50 years old from entering the site.

The closure of Al-Aqsa, as well as last week's killing of a young Palestinian man suspected of shooting the rabbi, fueled protests by angry Palestinians in Jerusalem.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.

In September 2000, a visit to the site by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the "Second Intifada," a popular uprising against the Israeli occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.