By Turgut Alp Boyraz
JERUSALEM
Clashes broke out in several neighborhoods of East Jerusalem overnight after a Palestinian driver was found hanged late Sunday in an Israeli bus in West Jerusalem, eyewitnesses said.
Israeli security forces used stun grenade and tear gas to disperse protesters who threw stones and petrol bombs at the Israeli troops in Al-Tur, Ras al-Amud and Abu Dis neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, witnesses told Anadolu Agency.
The protesters were angered by the reports saying that the Israeli police allegedly hinted the death of the Palestinian driver, identified as Hassan al-Ramouni, was suicide.
There were no immediate reports of injuries caused by the clashes.
According to the witnesses, the body of al-Ramouni, a 32-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem's Al-Tur neighborhood, was found hanged in his bus run by Israeli transportation operator Egged in the industrial zone of Givat Shaul in West Jerusalem.
The body was moved to Hadassah Medical Center for the Israeli authorities to identify the cause of death.
Some Palestinian media outlets, however, released photos of al-Ramouni's body showing signs of bruises and cuts in the back, abdomen and face, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported.
The incident is expected to ratchet up tension in Jerusalem where clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces have been flaring over the past few weeks.
Tension has already been running high since Israeli authorities sealed access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem after the shooting of an extremist Jewish rabbi in the city before reopening it hours later.
The unrest mounted further after Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man suspected of shooting the rabbi in a raid on his East Jerusalem home.
Several Israeli parliamentarians have also entered the mosque complex in recent days, drawing the ire of Muslim worshippers and official condemnation from Arab and Muslim countries.
Groups of Jewish settlers, too, have forced their way into the site, prompting clashes between Muslim worshippers and Israeli forces.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
In September 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon triggered what later became known as the "Second Intifada," a popular uprising against Israel's decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.
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