Hamas chief held after protests in Jerusalem

A senior Hamas leader was arrested as he left Jerusalem yesterday after Israeli police had deployed in force to forestall a threat by right-wing Jewish extremists to storm the city's holy sites.

A senior Hamas leader was arrested as he left Jerusalem yesterday after Israeli police had deployed in force to forestall a threat by right-wing Jewish extremists to storm the city's holy sites.

Hassan Yusef, the most prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank, was detained when his car was stopped at a checkpoint after he had slipped past a police cordon and entered the al-Aqsa mosque in protest at a planned demonstration against the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from Gaza.

Three thousand police ringed the Old City to prevent what turned out to be dozens rather than thousands of Jewish demonstrators entering the site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, where al-Aqsa stands, and triggering clashes with Palestinian worshippers. But despite the modest size of the protest, Revava, the far-right organisation which called it, appeared to have succeeded in one of its objectives, which was to divert a large force of police from other duties, in a rehearsal for possible protests in the summer which could tie down police needed to evacuate settlers from Gaza.

Hassan Yusef, a Ramallah resident without a permit to enter Jerusalem, and seen as one of the faction's more political and relatively moderate figures, was being questioned last night by security service officers. He was released from prison late last year after a 27-month sentence, and had joined hundreds of worshippers at the mosque on Saturday night in anticipation of the protest. "Al-Aqsa is in danger," he told reporters before leaving. "The attempts to desecrate al-Aqsa have not ended."

Six Palestinians were in detention last night after being arrested for throwing stones and scuffling with police at the city walls as they sought to enter the Old City in counter-protest. Two Palestinians were injured, one after being clubbed by police, and one policeman was injured.

Police had earlier reimposed a frequent prohibition on Palestinians under 40 praying at the al-Aqsa mosque, and eventually the Palestinians outside the city walls knelt and prayed in orderly lines.

Jerusalem police said that a seventh Palestinian had been arrested for dressing as a woman and approaching the Western Wall, where Jews traditionally pray.

Police detained 31 Jewish demonstrators and officers of Revava, and released 29 of them on condition that they did not return to the Old City within periods of between 24 hours and five days. One other wanted by the army was transferred to military custody, and a further one was arrested for seeking to pass through a gate to the site.

Another 25 pro-settler demonstrators were also arrested after delaying rush-hour traffic for 20 minutes on a busy highway in Tel Aviv by setting tyres alight and sitting in the road.

The operation to contain the Jewish protesters came on the eve of today's talks in Crawford, Texas, between President George Bush and Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, at which Mr Bush is expected to reaffirm his strong support for Gaza disengagement.

Tensions were heightened yesterday after three unarmed teenage boys were shot dead close to the southern Gaza border by Israeli troops. Residents say the boys were playing football, while the army says they were seeking to smuggle arms or ammunition from Egypt.

Meanwhile, security officials remain on alert against the prospect of an attack by Jewish extremists on the holy sites, even reportedly fearing an attempt to use shoulder-fired missiles to attack the al-Aqsa mosque or the nearby Dome of the Rock. Carmi Gilon, former head of the Shin Bet security service, told Israeli Radio: "Of all the means of stopping disengagement, no doubt the Temple Mount is the doomsday weapon."

David Ha'Ivri, the chairman of Revava, which opposes disengagement as a surrender of part of "Greater Israel", claimed in the Old City yesterday that Mr Sharon had been "rewarded by heaven" and "put in his seat of power" when as leader of the opposition in September 2000 he had walked on the Temple Mount in a move often blamed for triggering the Palestinian uprising. He added: "To our regret he betrayed his job, he was weakened and gave in to concessions that allow parts of the land of Israel to be handed to our enemies."