Ramallah, October 22 (RHC)-- Israeli soldiers have clashed with Palestinian demonstrators at the entrance of Israel’s Ofer military prison near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. According to press reports, scuffles broke out on Tuesday as Palestinians were protesting against the recent storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem by extremist Israeli settlers.

Israeli forces fired smoke grenades to disperse Palestinian protesters, who hurled rocks at Israeli police vehicles. Palestinians are extremely angry at settler raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli restrictions on Muslim worshippers’ access to the holy Islamic site.

They accuse Tel Aviv of attempts to Judaize Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future independent state. Earlier, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian national unity government, pledged to take “legal measures” to prevent Israeli settlers from attacking the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of Israeli settlers on the al-Aqsa Mosque, Abbas said, adding that the Palestinian government will “not allow settlers to attack the mosque.”

At least 1,300 Israeli settlers and hundreds of soldiers have forced their way into the compound in the past ten days while thousands of Palestinian Muslims under the age of 50 have been barred from entering the holy site.