Israeli police stormed Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, hurling stun grenades at Palestinians who had thrown rocks at them in another eruption of violence at the holy city's most sensitive site.
A medic for the Palestinian Red Crescent said six Palestinians were injured. Police reported that three of its officers were hurt.
The unrest, following a similar incident a month ago, did not appear to herald any immediate slide into widescale violence that could disrupt U.S.-led efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks suspended since December.
But the confrontation between Israeli police in riot gear and rock-throwing Muslims alarmed by rumours right-wing Jews planned to enter the site was a sharp reminder that Jerusalem remains a cauldron of heated religious and political passions.
Police did not go into al-Aqsa mosque, situated on al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), regarded by Muslims as the third holiest site after the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The compound is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, where the two destroyed Biblical Temples once stood. Israel captured the site in a 1967 war, along with the rest of East Jerusalem, which it annexed, and adjoining parts of the West Bank.
In the latest violence, dozens of young Arab men threw rocks, lumps of masonry and water tanks from the roofs of houses at police in the narrow alleyways around the mosque compound, which overlooks Judaism's Western Wall.
Rushing onto the compound behind riot shields, helmeted police with batons used stun grenades to repel the stone-throwers who retreated into the 8th-century al-Aqsa mosque.
A police spokesman said 15 people were arrested and that calm had largely returned to the area, several hours after the clashes erupted and police reinforcements deployed across East Jerusalem. Tourists continued to walk through the Old City and Jewish prayers at the Western Wall were held as normal.
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Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned "the storming of Haram al-Sharif by Israeli forces". He called on the international community "to put pressure on Israel ... and prevent tension in the region".
Palestinian officials have complained that Israel is tightening its grip on the Old City and Arab East Jerusalem.
Israel views all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that has not been recognised internationally, and has said construction for Jewish housing would continue there despite Palestinian and international calls for a settlement freeze.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ghassan Khatib, head of the Palestinian government press office, voiced concern over "dangerous Israeli provocations" in Jerusalem, which he said included restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshippers to al-Aqsa compound.
Israeli security forces control access to the area and regularly prohibit young Muslim men from entering the stone esplanade in the walled Old City, citing security concerns.
A Palestinian uprising erupted nine years ago after then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon toured the compound. Five years of violence killed several thousand people and wrecked efforts toward peace.