Fresh clashes erupt in east Jerusalem amid rising tensions

Palestinian protestors and Israeli police were engaged in heavy clashes in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem on Friday, where tension has soared in recent weeks.
At the Shuafat refugee camp, scores of Palestinian youths threw rocks at police and burned tires and trash bins. Police fought back with tear gas canisters and stun grenades.
Earlier, a symbolic funeral procession was held for Shuafat refugee camp resident Ibrahim al-Akri, who rammed his van into pedestrians in Jerusalem on Wednesday, leaving two people dead. Al- Akri was shot dead on the scene by Israeli police.
Jerusalem also saw disturbances in the Old City overnight and Friday morning, police said.
In the Old City's Muslim Quarter, youths threw stones and firecrackers at forces on Friday morning and two people, including a minor, were arrested, police said. One police officer was lightly wounded by a stone, and the police found a store containing 13 packets of firecrackers.
In total, twelve were arrested on Thursday night in disturbances in Jerusalem, according to the police, with more than 200 arrested in the past two weeks.
Hamas on Thursday urged Palestinians throughout the West Bank to participate in marches at the end of afternoon prayers in order to "protect" Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque from the "Zionist siege".
Some 1,300 Israeli riot police were deployed on Friday in Jerusalem's Old City to prevent violence, and Muslim men under the age of 35 were barred from praying in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said Friday the rising tensions in the city is a result of Islamic incitement by Palestinian militants.
"I have to say that we are welcoming you at a time when militant Islamic incitement is trying to fan violence in Israel, and especially in Jerusalem and especially on the Temple Mount, with the effort of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount," he said.
Israel Radio reported earlier on Friday that Netanyahu has ordered the demolition of the homes of Palestinians responsible for deadly attacks in Jerusalem, as a controversial punitive measure.
Netanyahu ordered officials to use a heavy hand against extremists, after three people were killed in two separate hit-and- run clashes amid heightening tensions in the holy city in recent weeks, the report said.