The trouble began 10 days ago when crowds of young Palestinian men threw rocks at police, apparently after hearing that a group of religious Jews was about to enter the Haram al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City. Police fired teargas and rubber-coated bullets at the Palestinians and closed access to the holy site.

There was more rock throwing and teargas over the weekend at the start of the Jewish holiday week of Sukkot, a time when many Israeli Jews walk into the Old City to the Western Wall to pray. Dozens of Palestinians were arrested and several police officers injured, including one who suffered a moderate injury when he was stabbed in the neck on Monday while checking identity cards on a Palestinian bus. But Tuesday appeared to pass without new clashes.

Violence is rarely far below the surface in the tense city of Jerusalem, and this latest round of clashes appeared to have been sparked by rumors that right-wing Jewish groups were intent on marching onto the Temple Mount. One leading Israeli newspaper, the Yedioth Ahronoth, described the troubles as "Sukkot riots" on its front page yesterday, and the Israeli press variously blamed Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls Gaza, and its rival, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.