ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 2 - Violence At Jerusalem Holy Site.

Israeli riot police clash with thousands of Palestinians, including stone-throwers, at the Jerusalem holy site in the largest eruption of violence since the Palestinian uprising began there on Sept.28, 2000, when Sharon paid a defiant visit against the advice of then Israeli PM Ehud Barak of the Labour Party. At least 20 Palestinians are hurt and 14 are arrested. (The site is a man-made plateau sacred to Muslims as Haram Al Sharif - the Noble Sanctuary - and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The incident comes as PM Sharon, in an interview published on Apr 2 says he gave orders to halt all development work on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, in a step towards an eventual Israeli withdrawal. Palestinian witnesses to the violence said it began with about a dozen youths throwing stones at police stationed on the plaza. The police said hundreds of Palestinians were throwing stones. Wielding batons and firing rubber pellets and stun grenades, the police then drove thousands of Palestinians inside the Al Aqsa mosque. A police spokesman, Superintendent Gil Kleiman, said some Palestinians had continued throwing stones from the mosque doors.