Israeli security forces on Wednesday tore down a tent in which a Jerusalem Palestinian family had been living since being evicted from their nearby house earlier this month.

Israeli security forces on Wednesday tore down a tent in which a Jerusalem Palestinian family had been living since being evicted from their nearby house earlier this month.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III blamed Armenian clerics Monday for weekend violence between Greek and Armenian Orthodox faithful in Jerusalem`s Holy Sepulchre church.

`The Armenians are constantly provoking us. They claim additional rights and seek to equate their privileges to ours which date back centuries,` Theophilos told Greek state television NET.

Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their east Jerusalem home at dawn on Sunday in the wake of a prolonged court battle with Jewish settlers and just two days before municipal elections.

Armed security forces surrounded the al-Kurd family`s house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of mostly Arab east Jerusalem during and after the operation.

Greek and Armenian Orthodox faithful kicked, punched and hit each other with candles on Sunday in Jerusalem`s Holy Sepulchre, the church built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was buried and resurrected.

Israeli police were called as the free-for-all left several people with black eyes, bruises and bloody cuts.

Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their east Jerusalem home at dawn on Sunday in the wake of a prolonged court battle with Jewish settlers.

A large police contingent surrounded the house during the operation, which came just two days before the city holds municipal elections.

A scandal-hit Israeli-Russian billionaire, a pro-cannabis left winger, a secular millionaire and an ultra-Orthodox MP are vying to run Jerusalem, a city whose status is a key stumbling block in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Israel on Wednesday demolished four Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem which the authorities said were built without permits, triggering clashes in one of the city`s Arab neighbourhoods.

In Silwan, young Palestinians hurled rocks at police who used teargas and stun grenades to disperse them, clearing the way for bulldozers to raze two houses, an AFP photographer reported.

Palestinian personalities, including a leading Muslim cleric, on Tuesday urged residents of the mainly Arab eastern sector of the city to boycott November 11 municipal elections.

JERUSALEM, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - The Israeli government voted on Sunday to hand over Sergei House, a Jerusalem property of the Romanov family which ruled Tsarist Russia, to the Russian state, government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to announce the long-anticipated news, which follows complex negotiations, when he visits Russia on Monday.

TEHRAN, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Iranians chanted 'Death to Israel' on Friday as Islamist students unveiled a book mocking the Holocaust in an Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day annual parade to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

TEHRAN, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Iranians chanted 'Death to Israel' on Friday as Islamist students unveiled a book mocking the Holocaust in an Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day annual parade to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

And in Gaza City, the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled the impoverished territory since June 2007 marked the day by calling for more suicide attacks on Israel.

JERUSALEM, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - Ninety thousand Muslims attended the first prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday amid tight security, police said.

The Israeli authorities deployed thousands of police but reported no incidents in the Holy City.

'Everything was calm,' police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

JERUSALEM, September 5, 2008 (AFP) - Israel beefed up its police deployments in Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim faithful were expected to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City.

JERUSALEM, September 3, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they had rediscovered rare remains of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem more than 2,100 years ago after locating the site of a 19th century dig.

JERUSALEM, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Israel and the Palestinians would not be able to agree on the final status of Jerusalem by the end of the year.

SDEROT, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - US presidential candidate Barack Obama reaffirmed on Wednesday his position that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel but insisted its final status must be decided through peace talks.

JERUSALEM, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - An Israeli policeman shot in the head in an attack earlier this month outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City died of his wounds on Wednesday, police said.

JERUSALEM, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - Israel's security chiefs said on Wednesday that more needed to be done to protect Jerusalem from Palestinian attacks as debate raged after a second bulldozer rampage in the Holy City this month.

JERUSALEM, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - Extra police were on the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday, the day after a bulldozer driver attacked several vehicles and injured 16 people before being shot dead, an officer said.

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - The White House on Tuesday urged 'all parties' in the Middle East to condemn a Palestinian man's bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem if Israel formally determines the attack was an act of terrorism.

AMMAN, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - White House hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned a bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem in which 16 people were wounded, saying he would support Israel 'in confronting terrorism.'

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A Palestinian man was shot dead after going on a bulldozer rampage in Jerusalem on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people as he ploughed into cars in the second such attack this month.

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A Palestinian bulldozer driver was shot dead in Jerusalem on Tuesday after injuring at least 16 people as he rammed cars in the second such attack this month, Israeli police and medics said.

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A Palestinian bulldozer driver was shot dead in central Jerusalem on Tuesday after injuring at least 16 people in an attack mimicking one earlier in the month, Israeli police and rescue services said.

Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco said 'the terrorist was neutralised very quickly' and police were working to reopen the street to traffic.

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A bulldozer driver was shot dead in central Jerusalem on Tuesday after injuring seven people in an apparent copy-cat attack, Israeli police and rescue services said.

'The driver of the bulldozer overturned two cars. One person was injured. We do not yet know the extent of the injuries,' police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

JERUSALEM, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - A bulldozer driver was shot dead in central Jerusalem on Tuesday by an Israeli who feared he was about to carry out an attack with the vehicle, witnesses said.

The man overturned two cars, injuring one person, before he was shot, the witnesses said, in what appeared to be the second such attack in the city in less than a month.

JERUSALEM, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli police went on high alert Saturday after a gunman opened fire on policemen standing outside the walls of the Old City, wounding two of them before fleeing on foot.

JERUSALEM, July 11, 2008 (AFP) - Unidentified attackers opened fire on a group of Israeli tourists in east Jerusalem late Friday, injuring two people, police said.

One of the two, who were both taken to hospital, was in a critical condition, while the other was seriously injured, according to police.

JERUSALEM, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - An Israeli commission has approved the building of 920 new homes in occupied east Jerusalem, the municipality said on Wednesday, in a new blow to shaky peace talks with the Palestinians.

JERUSALEM, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - An Israeli commission has approved the building of 920 new homes in occupied east Jerusalem, the municipality said on Wednesday, in a new blow to peace talks with the Palestinians.

'The district commission has approved for construction 920 housing units in Har Homa,' a statement said.

JERUSALEM, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - Their faces bloodied and voices shaking in anger, survivors of Wednesday's deadly bulldozer rampage in west Jerusalem stared in disbelief at the trail of destruction left by a Palestinian attacker.

JERUSALEM, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - Two people were killed and 30 more people wounded when a Palestinian man rammed a bulldozer into a bus and a car in Jerusalem on Wednesday before he was shot dead, medics and police said.

Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described it as 'terrorist incident.'

JERUSALEM, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - One woman was killed and 30 more people were injured by a Palestinian man who rammed a bulldozer into a bus and a car in Jerusalem on Wednesday before he was shot dead, medics and police said.

Police described the incident as a terror attack.

JERUSALEM, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - A man was shot dead after he drove an earthmover into a bus and a car in Jerusalem, overturning the vehicles with passengers on board, according to AFP journalists.

Chaos erupted as the man drove the heavy vehicle along a main avenue in central Jerusalem, ramming the bus and at least one car.

JERUSALEM, June 3, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert himself approved the construction of nearly 900 new houses in occupied east Jerusalem, the country's housing minister said on Tuesday.

JERUSALEM, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel would retain permanent sovereignty over 'historic and holy Jerusalem' as his country commemorated its 1967 occupation of the city's Arab eastern sector.

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - The White House warned Israel Monday against plans to build 884 more houses in east Jerusalem, saying building such settlements 'exacerbates the tensions' with the Palestinians.