Palestinians clash with Israeli troops in West Bank

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians who threw rocks and firebombs towards them in a West Bank clash that erupted after a funeral for a protester killed a day earlier.

About 40 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation and rubber bullet wounds sustained in fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank neighbourhood of Al-Ram, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, a Palestinian medical official said.

An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers used rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse the protesters, who also set tyres alight.

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of 23-year-old Talat Ramia who died after being shot by Israeli soldiers in a clash elsewhere in the West Bank on Friday.

A senior Israeli police officer said the recent tensions were provoked by calls on an ultranationalist Jewish website for Muslims to be removed from Jerusalem's most volatile religious site, which is revered by both religions.

"There was a very grave incitement call on a website ... for the destruction of the mosques on the Temple Mount and to cleanse it of Muslims," said Jerusalem police commander Nisso Shaham.

"The man responsible was questioned and the website is no longer active. He is suspected of incitement and sedition."

TENSIONS RISE

He said Islamic militant groups headed by Hamas were responsible for initiating the violence.

Jews revere the sacred compound they call the Temple Mount as the site of their Biblical Temple, destroyed by Roman troops in the 1st century. Surviving foundations of its Western Wall are now a focus of prayer.

For Muslims, who captured Jerusalem from the Christian Byzantines in the 7th century, the golden Dome of the Rock shrine marks the spot from which the Prophet Mohammad made his night journey to heaven.

They refer to the plaza as the Noble Sanctuary.

Ramia was the first Palestinian to die in a clash with Israeli security forces after months of relative calm. Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has been deadlocked since late 2010.

Tensions have risen in the past month, however, and a number of confrontations have taken place between protesters and Israeli security forces at various locations in Jerusalem and the West Bank.