Stone-throwing Palestinians clash with Israelis in East Jerusalem

"At local time about 5:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), (Arab) locals threw stones at border police on a regular patrol in the neighborhood, damaging vehicles and setting several cars alight," Israel police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Xinhua.

Fire department officials said rioters set several vehicles and a guard post alight.

The incident broke out earlier when Palestinians, who arose early for a pre-Ramadan meal, said they spotted a group of Israelis cutting through an alleyway near a mosque.

The Jews reportedly were en route to a nearby spring, possibly the nearby Pool of Siloam.

"At local time 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), four settlers arrived and asked to open the gate so they could take a shortcut to a spring," said Mahmoud Karin, a resident of the neighborhood and an employee of the Silwan information center, adding "one of the (Muslim) worshipers saw them and yelled to them to find out what they were doing and they fled," according to the Ha'aretz daily.

Jewish residents of the area said they were unsure of the events, and were unfamiliar with issues about the gate.

"We don't know what happened, this area is usually quiet. It is clear to us that this involves a group of extremists, and we have been in contact with many of the residents who clearly didn't want this to happen," a spokesman for the Jewish residents told the newspaper; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version