Violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces for the third successive day on Saturday, injuring about 200 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The death toll rose to at least seven from violence earlier this week. It started after a right-wing Israeli politician visited a site in Jerusalem which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, and has undermined efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Witnesses said that the Palestinian Police and Israeli soldiers opened fire during clashes near a Jewish settlement in Gaza, and medical sources said that more than 70 Palestinians had been injured in the violence there. Israeli security forces also opened fire in the West Bank city of Nablus when hundreds of Palestinians marched toward an army checkpoint. Three people were hurt, witnesses said. Thousands of protesters gathered in the divided West Bank city of Hebron. Some threw stones and others hurled petrol bombs at Israeli soldiers and at least 60 people were wounded, witnesses said.
In Jerusalem, Israeli police said that Palestinians threw stones at cars and buses and, as a security precaution, police evacuated worshippers from the Western Wall of the Old City where Jews were reciting prayers on the Jewish New Year.

Dozens of other people were reported injured in isolated clashes through the West Bank.
An Israeli army spokesman said Israel had demanded Palestinian security take action to stop the clashes. ``We do not at the moment see any action by the Palestinian police to prevent the violence,'' the spokesman said. The Palestinians blamed the violence on the Israeli authorities' show of force and the ``provocative'' visit to Temple Mount by right-wing leader Ariel Sharon on Thursday. Israel barred its citizens on Friday from entering Palestinian-ruled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the trouble flared. It closed the border crossing between Jerusalem and the West Bank on Saturday.
The disturbances were a further blow to stumbling peace talks that failed to result in a deal at a Camp David summit in July amid disagreement over the fate of Jerusalem.
Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the independent state they plan to declare.
Negotiators ended separate talks with US officials near Washington on Thursday without any sign of progress. The United States, which is trying to mediate a peace deal, also put some of the blame for the violence on Sharon. Bureau Report