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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli warplanes and artillery struck targets in Syria
following rare rocket fire from the northeastern neighbor, as Jewish-Muslim
tensions reached a peak Sunday at a volatile Jerusalem shrine with simultaneous
religious rituals.




Thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the city's Western Wall, the holiest
place where Jews can pray, for a mass priestly benediction prayer service for
the Passover holiday. At the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a walled esplanade above
the Western Wall, hundreds of Palestinians performed prayers as part of
observances during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.




Hundreds of Jews also visited the Al-Aqsa compound under heavy police guard
Sunday, to whistles and religious chants from Palestinians protesting their
presence. By sundown, the observances had passed without serious incident.



Such tours by religious and nationalist Jews have increased in size and
frequency over the years, and are viewed with suspicion by many Palestinians who
fear that Israel plans one day to take over the site or partition it. Israeli
officials say they have no intention of changing long-standing arrangements that
allow Jews to visit, but not pray in the Muslim-administered site.

However, the country is now governed by the most right-wing government in its
history, with ultra-nationalists who seek changes in the arrangements in senior
positions.

Senior right-wing politicians, along with West Bank settler leaders, announced
plans for a march through the northern West Bank on Monday, setting the stage
for further tensions.



Tensions have soared in the past week at the flashpoint shrine after an Israeli
police raid on the mosque. On several occasions, Palestinians have barricaded
themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque with stones and firecrackers, demanding the
right to pray there overnight, something Israel has in the past only allowed
during the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Police removed them
by force, detaining hundreds and leaving dozens injured.

The violence at the shrine triggered rocket fire by Palestinian militants from
the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, starting Wednesday, and Israeli airstrikes
targeted both areas.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s media office announced that the militant group’s chief,
Hassan Nasrallah, received a delegation headed by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on
Sunday. The two discussed “the most important developments in occupied
Palestine, the course of events at al-Aqsa Mosque, and the escalating resistance
in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to general political developments in the
region, the readiness of the resistance axis and the cooperation of its
parties,” the statement said.




Haniyeh, who arrived in Lebanon last week shortly before rockets were launched
at Israel from south Lebanon, had been scheduled to make a public appearance in
Beirut on Friday. But it was canceled for security reasons following the
exchange of strikes between Lebanon and Israel. No group has officially claimed
responsibility for the rocket attacks, but Israel has accused Hamas of being
behind them.

Late on Saturday and early Sunday, militants in Syria fired rockets in two
salvos toward Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. A Damascus-based
Palestinian group loyal to the Syrian government claimed responsibility for the
first round of rockets, saying it was retaliating for the Al-Aqsa raids.




In the first salvo, one rocket landed in a field in the Golan Heights. Fragments
of another destroyed missile fell into Jordanian territory near the Syrian
border, Jordan’s military reported. In the second round, two of the rockets
crossed the border into Israel, with one being intercepted and the second
landing in an open area, the Israeli military said.




Israel responded with artillery fire into the area in Syria from where the
rockets were fired. Later, the military said Israeli fighter jets attacked
Syrian army sites, including a compound of Syria’s 4th Division and radar and
artillery posts.




Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the violence in a telephone
call with Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog late Saturday, telling Herzog that
Muslims could not remain silent about the “provocations and threats” against the
Al-Aqsa Mosque, and said the hostilities that have spread to Gaza and Lebanon
should not be allowed to escalate further.



In addition to the cross-border fighting, three people were killed over the
weekend in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of people, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,
attended the funeral for two British-Israeli sisters, Maia Dee, 20, and Rina
Dee, 15, who were killed in a shooting Friday in the West Bank.

They were buried following an emotional ceremony in the Jewish settlement of
Kfar Etzion in the West Bank. As the two bodies were brought into the room, one
of their sisters threw herself down and hugged the covered bodies. Their mother,
who was also shot in the attack, remains hospitalized in critical condition.




“May we and no one else in the whole world ever know so much sorrow. Amen,” said
their father, Lee Dee.

An Italian tourist, Alessandro Parini, 35, a lawyer from Rome, had just arrived
in the city a few hours earlier with some friends for a brief Easter holiday. He
was killed Friday in a suspected car-ramming on Tel Aviv's beachside promenade.

Over 90 Palestinians and have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year, at
least half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The
Associated Press. Palestinian attacks on Israelis have killed 19 people in that
time. All but one were civilians.

——

Associated Press writers Suzan Frazer in Ankara, Turkey; Abby Sewell in Beirut
and Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

















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Firebombs have been thrown at police during an illegal dissident republican
march in Londonderry.



Sections of the crowd pelted a PSNI Land Rover with missiles, including petrol
bombs, as the Easter commemoration parade made its way through the Creggan area
of the city on Monday.

Photographs showed masked youths throwing petrol filled bottles at the Land
Rover before it managed to speed away.

The violence came amid a series of events across Northern Ireland to commemorate
the signing 25-years-ago of the historic Good Friday Agreement which marked the
end of ‘the troubles’.




Police in Northern Ireland had warned of the potential for dissident republicans
attacking officers in Londonderry on Easter Monday.




Senior detectives said "strong" intelligence had indicated that public disorder
could be used to launch attacks on officers in the city.




The heightened tension came a day before US President Joe Biden is to visit
Belfast for the 25th anniversary of the US-brokered peace accord.

Further events will be held the following week, due to be attended by former US
president Bill Clinton and his wife, former US secretary of state Hillary
Clinton.

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