MIDDLE EAST:An Israeli Islamic leader warned of "religious war" and Iran's supreme leader urged retaliation against Israel yesterday over new excavations and repairs in Jerusalem's Old City, outside the Holy Land's most explosive religious site.
Raed Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and several of his followers scuffled with police guarding labourers carrying out preliminary work on a new ramp up to the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, home of the al-Aqsa mosque complex.
After being arrested and brought to a Jerusalem court, Mr Salah accused Israel of "the crime of demolishing a part of the blessed al-Aqsa compound" and of "pushing the whole region to religious war".
The court ordered him to remain at least 150m (490ft) away from the Old City walls for 10 days, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Meanwhile, Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged the Islamic world to make Israel regret its excavation work.
"The Islamic world's reaction to this insulting move should make the regime occupying Qods regret [its action] . . .
"Silence over this issue is not acceptable," Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted by the state radio as saying.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map", also condemned the excavation.
"The nature of the Zionist regime is to ruin and cause conflict," Iran's students news agency ISNA quoted the president as saying.
Israeli officials say Islamic radicals are using the issue to whip up hostile sentiment, pointing out that the work site is 50m (160ft) away from the wall around the mosque complex. - ( AP, Reuters)