Israel lifts closure of West Bank as tensions calm

[March 17, 2010]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel on Wednesday lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem's holiest shrine and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

While Israel moved to end the lockdown, it also kept thousands of police officers on alert as an uneasy calm settled over the holy city.

The violence took place against the backdrop of deep Palestinian frustration over a yearlong standstill in peace talks and dovetailed with the worst U.S.-Israeli diplomatic feud in decades.

On Tuesday, the U.S. and Israel signaled they were trying to move beyond the crisis that erupted when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments in disputed east Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden's visit last week.

Israel, citing intelligence reports, canceled the restrictions on Palestinian access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest shrine, a day after the heaviest violence in months broke out across the city. Hundreds of Palestinians set tires and garbage bins ablaze and lobbed rocks at Israeli riot police, who responded with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades. The unrest was set off by persistent rumors that Jewish extremists were planning to take over the compound.

The hilltop compound is also home to Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, the place where the biblical Jewish temples once stood. The conflicting claims to the complex make the future of the holy city the most charged issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the area. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital.

The U.S., which has been working hard for more than a year to get both sides negotiating again, harshly criticized the latest Israeli construction plan and has berated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on various occasions. U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who had hoped to wrap up preparations for relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, called off a visit to the region Tuesday amid the diplomatic tensions.

Israeli officials say they have been trying to contain the damage and talking to Washington about how to salvage the talks. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to defuse the situation by stressing the U.S. commitment to Israel's security, though she said she is still waiting for Israel to prove it's serious about making peace.

In a measure of how tense the situation remained Wednesday, officials scrambled to respond to an inaccurate report that Israel had issued new construction bids for an additional 309 Jewish apartments in east Jerusalem.

Government spokesmen called journalists to point out that the plans dated back to December, and the Construction Ministry swiftly produced documents that showed the bids were not released when Biden was here, as had been reported.

Also, Netanyahu immediately distanced himself from his brother-in-law's characterization of President Barack Obama as "anti-Semitic" because of the U.S. leader's objection to Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.

In a statement issued by his office, the prime minister said he "strenuously" objected to the comments made by Hagi Ben Artzi -- an ultranationalist who has made controversial comments in the past -- and expressed "deep appreciation" for Obama's commitment to Israel's security.

Netanyahu himself objects to partitioning Jerusalem and exempted the city's eastern sector from a recent settlement slowdown he enacted in the West Bank.

Israel maintains that its annexation of east Jerusalem after capturing it 1967 entitles it to build there, but the Palestinians and the international community do not recognize Israeli sovereignty there.

[Associated Press; By AMY TEIBEL]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.