Jerusalem mobilizes

Israeli police mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure volatile Jerusalem, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fear that two days of minor clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.

By nightfall, no serious clashes had developed, and an Israeli Muslim leader was arrested on suspicion of helping spark the tension.

Rumors that Jewish extremists planned to march on the most sacred Muslim and Jewish shrine in the Holy Land apparently fuelled the unrest in Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No such march has taken place. But the low-level violence has inflamed political and religious passions, stoked breathless reports in the Israeli and Arab media and laid bare once again just how much of a tinderbox Jerusalem is.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Tuesday the Israeli leader was "following the events" and holding consultations with security officials.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said thousands of police were called in to secure the city on Tuesday, describing the reinforcements as exceptional. There were brief clashes with stone-throwing youths in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood and at a checkpoint outside the city, but no serious injuries were reported.

The weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which draws many Jewish visitors to Jerusalem, has been the backdrop for the recent unrest.

Israel and the Palestinians both lay claim to Jerusalem, with Israel insisting it will retain control of all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured and annexed in 1967.