RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY: Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem on Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinians gathered there to defend it from Jewish occupiers.

Police deployed extra forces early Sunday after calls for demonstrations around the mosque compound. The site — known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, the third holiest in Islam — has been the scene of clashes for several months.

The Palestinian calls for protests came after a Jewish group, the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights on the Temple Mount, urged Jews to gather at the site.

A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglas shields closed in on the Palestinian protesters, sending many running for cover into Al-Aqsa Mosque. Dozens of protesters remained holed up inside the mosque for several hours. The protesters eventually left peacefully and the compound was closed, police said.

Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, the director of the Waqf (endowment) Department in Jerusalem, told Arab News that at least 10 worshipers were injured in clashes with the police and 15 arrested, including senior Fatah member Hatim Abdulqader, who is in charge of the Jerusalem portfolio in the Fatah movement. Prior to his arrest, Abdulqader told Arab News that the Palestinian presence thwarted the Jewish occupiers’ plans to storm the mosque.

Palestinian sources said the police also detained Ali Abu Shaikha, No. 3 in the Islamic Movement’s northern branch in Israel. Abu Shaikha was arrested for calling on residents to go out and demonstrate. In mid-October he was detained on similar charges.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee on Nov. 1 in Jeddah. The committee groups Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Malaysia, Senegal, Uganda and Tajikistan.

The meeting, to which the Palestinians and Morocco — the chair of the OIC’s Al-Quds Committee — have also been invited, will study “all means available to counter the Israeli violations,” an OIC statement said.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the OIC, condemned the Israeli police action. He said “frequent” Israeli breaches of the mosque compound are “very dangerous and could lead to a negative outcome.”

The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned of “dangerous consequences” and called on Israel to “halt all provocative acts.” “Jerusalem is a red line that cannot be crossed,” his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.

Hamas urged Arab and Islamic countries to counter the escalating Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound. Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nono told reporters in Gaza that Israel intends to allow groups of Jewish occupiers to enter the site and “divide and cut off large parts of it to build their alleged temple.”

— With input from agencies ¬