Israeli Police

Israeli police stormed the grounds of Al Aqsa mosque Sunday, using clubs and stun grenades to subdue hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinians in the worst clashes in a month of unrest in and around Jerusalem's Old City. The rioting, which caused no fatalities and subsided after a few hours, did not appear to portend a large-scale Palestinian uprising. But it sprang from increasing tensions stoked by Jewish and Islamic extremists that could keep Jerusalem and its contested holy sites on edge for weeks to come.

With U.S.-brokered peace talks hanging by a thread, clashes erupted in East Jerusalem on Wednesday after a private Israeli security guard, working for Jewish residents of an Arab-dominated area, shot to death a Palestinian man during an early-morning altercation. Hours later, following the funeral of the slain man, Samer Sarhan, 32, Palestinian youths in the restive Silwan neighborhood confronted Israeli police, throwing rocks, setting three cars on fire and injuring at least seven passersby, Israeli police said.

Citing a lack of evidence, Israeli authorities said Sunday that they would not file charges against any police officers in the killings of 13 Arabs shot during rioting five years ago. The announcement angered relatives of the victims as well as Israeli Arab leaders and rights activists, who charged that the government's decision was evidence of their second-class status in the Jewish state. "They are saying a crime was committed.

Get the girls ready, Ziad Jilani's wife recalls him saying as he rushed out the door, and when I'm back from prayers we'll have a day at the beach. With temperatures soaring and school in recess, the Jilani family was looking forward to a little fun and relaxation. After Friday prayers at Al Aqsa mosque in the Old City, Jilani jumped into his white Mitsubishi pickup and began driving through a crowded East Jerusalem neighborhood. His family believes he was planning to buy fruit for his eldest daughter and make a quick stop to visit his grandmother.

Israeli police Friday raided two Jewish seminaries in Jerusalem's Old City in a search for arms and sabotage materials prompted by a spate of attacks against Arab homes in the area. Police sources said that one man was arrested during the raids but that no arms were found. Some files were seized. The decision to make the searches came after the arrest Thursday of a student from one of the seminaries. In his car, police found materials often used in firebomb attacks.

Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday for the fourth time in a corruption investigation that is a key factor in his political downfall. The session was the latest round of questioning on suspicions that Olmert improperly accepted money from an American businessman. Another case involves alleged violations in funding trips abroad.

Israeli police have arrested the British journalist to whom Israeli whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu disclosed details about the nation's alleged nuclear weapons program in a 1986 interview, security officials said Wednesday. The journalist, Peter Hounam, was arrested in Israel, but no details were given because of a gag order, Israel Radio said. Vanunu was released April 21 after serving a 17 1/2-year prison sentence for espionage and treason.

Police launched an investigation Thursday after Western journalists photographed plainclothes police officers who had pasted press signs on their car to disguise their identity while investigating Palestinians. The incident drew a formal complaint from the Foreign Press Assn. in Israel, which said in a letter to the government that such action places journalists "at great personal risk" and urged authorities "to cease such behavior immediately."

Israel's police recommended Sunday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be indicted in a string of corruption cases, according to an official document. The statement said officers are seeking his indictment in incidents that include receiving tens of thousands of dollars from a U.S. businessman and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. The police recommendation would have only limited effect. The decision on whether to indict Olmert rests with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz.

Israeli police chief Yaacov Turner on Sunday suspended three policemen charged with torturing a Palestinian prisoner to extract a false confession. A police spokeswoman said Turner transferred five other officers charged in the same case from an investigative unit in Jerusalem that interrogates Arabs. The interrogators are suspected of severely beating the bound Palestinian inmate in a Jerusalem prison two years ago to make him confess to a murder he did not commit.

Reporting from Washington and Jerusalem Paul Richter -- With anger over Israeli building plans stoking tensions about the future of Jerusalem's holy sites, violence spilled into the streets Tuesday in a string of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police that injured more than 100 people. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delayed a trip to the Middle East by the U.S. special envoy as Washington pressed the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to roll back construction of housing units in disputed East Jerusalem.

Rising political and religious tensions in Jerusalem spilled into the streets Tuesday with a string of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police that left more than 100 people injured. In scenes reminiscent of past uprisings, dozens of Palestinian youths, some with scarves masking their faces, pelted police with rocks, blocked roads and burned tires in half a dozen neighborhoods around East Jerusalem. Israeli police, who have been on high alert for days, responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades, witnesses said.

Cruising down this disputed four-lane highway, with all its twists and turns, is like taking a road trip through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You pass the walls and barriers that keep Palestinians from accessing Highway 443 as it slices through their land. Then there are the hazardous corridors where Israeli drivers have been shot and killed. On one side is an Israeli settlement mushrooming on a hill. Turn the other way for a glimpse of an Israeli detention center for Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli police stormed the grounds of Al Aqsa mosque Sunday, using clubs and stun grenades to subdue hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinians in the worst clashes in a month of unrest in and around Jerusalem's Old City. The rioting, which caused no fatalities and subsided after a few hours, did not appear to portend a large-scale Palestinian uprising. But it sprang from increasing tensions stoked by Jewish and Islamic extremists that could keep Jerusalem and its contested holy sites on edge for weeks to come.

Israeli police said they had dropped a criminal investigation of a real estate deal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, days before he leaves office, citing insufficient evidence. Police investigated allegations that Olmert bought a home at a steep discount in exchange for granting favors to the builder. The alleged deal occurred while Olmert was Jerusalem mayor, years before he became prime minister in 2006. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the case was closed after an investigation showed no "concrete evidence of illegal acts in this case."

Two Israeli policemen were shot to death Sunday while traveling in their vehicle near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and authorities said they suspected a Palestinian attack. It was the first fatal shooting of an Israeli in the West Bank since April. Such incidents are rare because the Israeli army controls much of the traffic in the Palestinian territory. Security checks are especially rigid along Highway 90, a main north-south route, where Sunday's shooting occurred.

Israeli police using rubber bullets shot and wounded four Palestinian women and a 12-year-old girl today during the first Arab demonstration in East Jerusalem since a U.S.-Israeli dispute over its status. East Jerusalem's Makassed Hospital said the women and the girl were shot in the face and head. Three women suffered tear gas inhalation.

Israel's police recommended Sunday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be indicted in a string of corruption cases, according to an official document. The statement said officers are seeking his indictment in incidents that include receiving tens of thousands of dollars from a U.S. businessman and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. The police recommendation would have only limited effect. The decision on whether to indict Olmert rests with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz.