Israel seals off shrine

JERUSALEM, Sunday (Reuters)

Thousands of Israeli police sealed off a flashpoint Jerusalem shrine on Sunday, foiling a march by ultranationalist Jews that could have stoked violence complicating Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza.

A dozen protesters were arrested in scuffles after Israel banned the march and Palestinians warned they would scrap their ceasefire if Jews rallied at the site revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews as Temple Mount.

A few hundred adherents of the Revava ("Multitude") movement, bent on derailing the Gaza pullout plan, showed up for a march organisers said would draw 10,000 to a site at the heart of the Middle East conflict and scene of bloodshed in the past.

But a blockade of all approaches to the shrine by police appeared to nip any march in the bud and only a few dozen protesters tried in vain to push their way into the site.

They shouted "Gestapo" at police and injured an officer with a thrown rock, but dispersed in mid-afternoon.

"We came here to show the world we are unable to pray even at our holiest place, the Temple Mount," said Jewish protester Efraim Cohen, 21, a West Bank settler.

"But if (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon thinks it will be as easy to expel Jews from Gaza as he has dealt with us today, he is mistaken. The struggle will continue," he said, before being hustled away by police.

Hundreds of Palestinian counter-demonstrators also clashed with police on horseback at an Old City gate before being driven back. Israel barred Palestinian men under 40 from the shrine on Sunday to minimize any risk of violence with Jews.

A Palestinian disguised as a woman was detained en route to the shrine, a police spokeswoman said.