because of their age performed prayers on a street. They were faced by a row of riot police in black uniforms and helmets, as well as several officers on horseback.

About 15,000 people gathered to pray at Al-Aqsa and the event ended peacefully, but clashes erupted in other parts of East Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank.

At the Qalandia checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jerusalem, troops fired rubber bullets as several hundred protesters marched, some throwing rocks and petrol bombs, according to the Reuters news agency.

In East Jerusalem, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters hurling firecrackers and burning tyres that sent up huge clouds of black smoke in Shoafat refugee camp.

Far-right pressure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Thursday to reassurehim that the government would not yield to increasing demands by Jewish hardliners to allow Jews to pray at Al-Aqsa.

Jordan acts as the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and other Muslim holy sites in annexed East Jerusalem.

The Al-Aqsa complex is known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

It is the third holiest site in Islam and houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock. Jews also revere it as the location of their biblical temples and consider it the most sacred location in their faith.

In recent months, several senior members of Netanyahu's coalition, including Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Deputy Parliament Speaker Moshe Feiglin, have called for a greater Jewish presence and the right to pray