JERUSALEM — A security guard posted to protect Jewish settlers killed a Palestinian on Wednesday in East Jerusalem, setting off street clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police that reached the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City.
The violence drew attention to the role of private security guards in East Jerusalem, where Jewish nationalists have moved into homes in Palestinian neighborhoods, stoking tensions. Civil-rights advocates warned that guards from private firms are operating outside the rules of engagement that bind police.
A police spokesman said the guard told investigators he fired into the air after his vehicle was blocked with garbage containers and stoned from surrounding rooftops.
The flare-up came amid a looming crisis in U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A moratorium on West Bank building is set to expire Sunday, and the Palestinians have warned that if the freeze is not extended, they will withdraw from the negotiations.
The trouble began before dawn. Residents and police said a confrontation developed between local youths and the security guard, who was patrolling in a car.
Hanan Odeh, who lives nearby, said that before the incident there was stone-throwing and a loud argument between Israelis and local youths. Later, she said, she heard a burst of automatic gunfire and saw a fleeing man, limping on one leg, who collapsed on the stairs under her house. He was identified as Samer Sarhan, 32, a father of five.
Sarhan’s funeral triggered clashes across East Jerusalem. Stone-throwing youths battled police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. At the al-Aqsa mosque compound, the holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, riot police charged in to disperse youths who had pelted them with stones, the police spokesman said.
Police said nine Israelis were injured.
