Some 5,000 mourners attended a funeral in the West Bank on Friday for a Palestinian who died of his wounds.
Mohammed Asfour, 22, died on Thursday after being shot by Israeli soldiers during a confrontation with stone-throwers in the occupied West Bank two weeks ago.
Following the funeral, about 100 mourners threw stones at soldiers who responded by firing gas canisters and rubber bullets.
Tension is rising before a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Jerusalem and Ramallah at the end of the month and the possible resumption of peace talks that broke down in 2010.
The recent violence has focused around the plight of Palestinians held in Israeli jails but it largely subsided last week after Israel agreed to release two hunger-striking inmates in May and they ended their protest.
Predicting that Obama's visit would fail to garner desired results for the Palestinians, Gaza's Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on his West Bank rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the more secular Fatah movement, to choose Palestinian reconciliation over peace talks with Israel.
"As Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims we must not hold hopes on such visit and we must not sell our people illusions," Haniyeh said.
"I urge the Palestinian Authority not to fall in the trap of illusion of the visit of the American resident and not to close the door to Palestinian reconciliation," he added.
In Sabastiya, Palestinians and Israeli army clashed during a protest against Jewish settlement that will be built on village lands.
A surge in anti-Israeli violence in the West Bank over the past several weeks has raised concern in Israel that a new Palestinian uprising could erupt.
In Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police fired stun grenades at Palestinian worshippers who threw rocks and firebombs at them after Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Dozens of officers in riot gear entered the politically sensitive area, one of Islam's holiest sites, to break up a crowd of several hundred protesters.
Palestinian medical workers said about 35 protesters were injured at the plaza, none seriously. A number of policemen were slightly hurt, a police spokesman said.
As well as the al-Aqsa Mosque, the plaza houses the golden Dome of the Rock shrine, which marks the spot from which Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammad made his night journey to heaven.
Jews revere the sacred compound as the site of their Biblical Temple, destroyed by Roman troops in the 1st Century.
09 Mar, 2013
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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/highlights/2013/03/08/West-Bank-funeral-procession-ends-in-clashes.html
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