New players pose additional threats to Jerusalem tensions

Competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem have long fueled fighting between Israel and the Palestinians

JERUSALEM -- Competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem have long fueled fighting between Israel and the Palestinians. But a new mix of players, including Gaza militants and Jewish Israeli extremists, have made the latest round of violence particularly combustible. The unrest has been characterized by nightly clashes between Palestinian youths and Jerusalem police outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Over the weekend, anti-Arab Israeli extremists, apparently emboldened by the election of their allies to parliament, entered the fray with a march calling for violence against Arabs. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired an intense barrage of rockets into southern Israel with rocket fire. And political posturing by Israeli and Palestinian leaders has added to the tense atmosphere.