The Hamas terror movement’s incitement against Israel continues to escalate, in what appears to be a crusade for another wave of terrorism and a new intifada.

Israeli police armed with stun grenades and tear gas clashed with rock-throwing Palestinian youths who had barricaded themselves inside Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque for a third day, police and witnesses said.

Israeli police briefly clashed with Palestinian protesters at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site early yesterday, raising tensions in the holy city ahead of the Jewish new year.

Israeli police have entered Jerusalem’s holiest site to disperse hundreds of Palestinians who were throwing rocks.

A Palestinian rocket has hit the outskirts of Jerusalem, landing harmlessly in an open area in one of the longest strikes fired from the Gaza Strip in nearly a week of fighting.

Palestinian militants fired a rocket thought to be aimed at Jerusalem today, setting off air raid sirens throughout the city and opening a new front in three days of fierce fighting between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces are on high alert ahead of expected mass demonstrations as Palestinians prepared for a day of marches throughout the region.

Palestinian authorities have called for Irish support in its global campaign to have Palestine recognised as a United Nations member state.

ISRAEL has 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.

HUNDREDS of Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces across east Jerusalem yesterday in the worst rioting in years as a senior Hamas leader called for a new “intifada,” or uprising.

The rift in US-Israel relations deepened today after American envoy George Mitchell cancelled a visit and Jerusalem insisted it would not back down over building plans at the heart of the row.

Israel is coming under increasing US pressure to scrap the east Jerusalem building project which has sparked the most serious diplomatic feud in years.

ISRAELI forces sealed off the West Bank and massed riot squads around Jerusalem’s Old City and Arab neighbourhoods during Muslim weekly prayers yesterday, facing down Palestinian anger over Jewish settlement expansion.

Palestinians and Israeli police have clashed near the Jerusalem compound housing the al-Aqsa mosque, leaving dozens of people injured.

AL-QAIDA chief Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Middle East over the Gaza offensive.

Osama bin Laden released a new message yesterday that accused Arab leaders of sacrificing the Palestinians and called on Muslim militants in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza.

THE internal fighting between Palestinian factions in Gaza is the latest stumbling block to attempts to secure a peace that has been elusive since the formation of the state of Israel.

A UNITED NATIONS anti-racism panel has questioned Israel’s policy on preserving holy sites, asking the country to explain whether it protects places considered sacred to religions other than Judaism.

Anti-riot police scuffled with demonstrators in Cairo as Muslims marched in Jordan and Lebanon to express outrage over Israeli renovation work near Islam’s third-holiest shine.

Hundreds of angry worshippers threw stones and bottles at police today in an eruption of outrage over contentious Israeli renovation work at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Under heavy police guard, Israeli workers began a dig today at a centuries-old walkway that leads to a holy site in Jerusalem disputed by Muslims and Jews, a spokesman said.

Iran today awarded a Moroccan artist the top prize in an exhibition of cartoons on the Holocaust that has received international condemnation, including from UN chief Kofi Annan.

Israel pressed forward with a stepped-up offensive in the Gaza Strip today, killing at least four people in two attacks in the coastal area.

Palestinians fired three Qassam rockets at southern Israel today, hitting one home, while Israeli soldiers traded fire with a Palestinian fugitive hiding in a house in the northern West Bank, the Israeli army said.

Israel has halted the release of Palestinian prisoners, demanding the Palestinian Authority crack down on militants before anyone else is freed.

INSURGENTS in Iraq staged a series of car bombings and other attacks yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens a day after the country's first democratic government was approved.

Insurgents unleashed a series of deadly attacks today, including 10 car bombings in and around the capital, the day after the country’s first democratically elected government was approved.

Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas cancelled a campaign stop planned in Jerusalem today, worried that Israeli security arrangements would have embarrassed him.

Yasser Arafat was laid to rest in a marble-and-stone grave today after his flag-draped coffin was borne through a sea of emotional Palestinians who swarmed around the helicopter that had carried him from a state funeral in Egypt.

ISRAEL yesterday threatened to limit the number of Muslims allowed to pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, saying a portion of the biblical-era structure was in danger of collapse.

THE chief Palestinian peace negotiator submitted his resignation yesterday, signalling deep divisions within the Palestinian camp.