Violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli regime soldiers on Tuesday in several parts of occupied east al-Quds, as the occupying regime deployed thousands of troops in the holy city.

Zionist regime soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators who were throwing stones at the regime troops. Similar clashes erupted in other neighborhoods in occupied east al-Quds.

Some 40 Palestinians were injured when Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas earlier declared Tuesday a “day of anger” against Israeli regime, a day after the regime reopened a synagogue in the occupied east Al-Quds.

“We call on the Palestinian people to regard Tuesday as a day of rage against the occupation’s (Israel’s) procedures in al-Quds against al-Aqsa mosque,” Hamas said in a statement.

Palestinians say the restoration work at the Hurva synagogue in occupied East al-Quds endangered al-Aqsa, situated some 400 meters (yards) away.

Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank took to the streets on Tuesday, pledging to protect the occupied city of al-Quds against the Israeli regime’s attacks.

“With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice for you, Al-Quds,” the crowds, most of them students, chanted.

The protests came at calls by Hamas Resistance movement that earlier declared Tuesday a “day of anger” against Israeli regime, a day after the regime reopened a synagogue in the occupied east Al-Quds.

Violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli regime soldiers were reported on Tuesday in several parts of occupied east al-Quds.

The regime’s soldiers fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinians who hurled stones in several neighborhoods.

The regime spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that15 Palestinians were arrested.

A few hundred meters (yards) from the Qalandia checkpoint between Israel and the West Bank, dozens of Palestinian youths hurled stones at the regime’s soldiers who fired rubber bullets.

As the unrest rocked al-Quds, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell delayed a visit to the region amid the most severe diplomatic row in decades between Israeli regime and its staunch ally, the United States.

Israel’s announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in occupied East al-Quds infuriated not only the Palestinians, but also the US administration which had sent Vice President Joe Biden to the region to promote new Middle East peace talks.

Mitchell postponed a visit to the region that was to start on Tuesday, the US embassy said.

The reopening of a synagogue in occupied east al-Quds on Monday further fuelled tensions.

Leader of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal slammed the move as “a falsification of history,” and warned it could cause the Middle East to “explode.”

“Israel is playing with fire and touching off the first spark to make the region explode,” he said.

“We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple,” he added.

Hatem Abdel Qader, who oversees Al-Quds affairs for Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah, said: “This is not just a synagogue.”

“This synagogue will be a prelude to violence, extremism and religious fanaticism, and that will not be limited to extremist Jews” but includes members of the Israeli occupying regime.

Iraqi elections partial results on Tuesday showed that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s party looked likely to form parliament’s single largest grouping.

Maliki’s success in the capital Baghdad, which accounts for more than twice as many seats as any other province, builds on his lead in seven provinces overall, and is a major boost for his bid to retain the top job.

Maliki’s main rival, secular ex-premier Iyad Allawi, leads in five provinces, with two-thirds of votes having been counted nationwide.

Preliminary results, based on 60 percent of ballots counted in Baghdad, showed Maliki’s State of Law Alliance held a 65,000-vote lead over Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition of Shiite religious groups, a distant third.

The election — the second since former dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled — comes less than six months before the United States is set to withdraw all of its combat troops from Iraq.

Maliki also holds leads in the oil-rich province of Basra, the third-biggest in Iraq, as well as five other provinces south of Baghdad.

Iraq’s proportional representation system makes it unlikely that any single group will clinch the 163 seats needed to form a government on its own, and protracted coalition building is likely.

Figures released on Monday showed Allawi, a Shiite Arab like Maliki, was narrowly ahead in the northern oil province of Kirkuk, defying predictions of a win for the Kurdish bloc which wants to incorporate Kirkuk into autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan in the north.

Iraqiya is also leading in Nineveh, Iraq’s second-largest province around the main northern city of Mosul, as well as the mostly Sunni provinces of Anbar, Diyala and Salaheddin.

The INA, meanwhile, is ahead in three Shiite southern provinces while Kurdistania, an alliance of the two main Kurdish factions, was ahead in all three of Kurdistan’s provinces.

Zionist Forces opened fire at the Palestinian protestors in East of Jerusalem today morning and used the rubber bullets and tear gas against them.

Palestinian sources confirmed that the clashes took place after Zionist decision to reopen synagogue near Jerusalem.

After that, the clashes broke out into several neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The Palestinian medical sources reported that the Zionist forces injured more than Forty Palestinian civilians in Al Asaweiya area north of Occupied Jerusalem.

Palestinian Journalists inside occupied Jerusalem confirmed that the Zionist forces is detaining Palestinians randomly to suppress the civilian protestors by force.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance movement Hamas said that the Zionist entity is aiming from these actions to judize Jerusalem. Palestinian sources in Gaza strip reported that huge rallies out as a protest on what is going on Jerusalem.

Israeli regime has reopened a synagogue in occupied east Al-Quds amid tight security, as Palestinian groups declared Tuesday a “day of anger” over the Zionist regime’s atrocities in Palestinian occupied lands.

Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas also called on Arabs and Muslims to “come to the aid of Al-Aqsa in the occupied Al-Quds.

Palestinians consider the opening of the synagogue as the last step leading up to removal of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the establishment of the alleged temple place.

The reopening took place amid high tensions in the holy city, with thousands of Israeli soldiers deployed in occupied Al-Aqsa.

Leader of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal slammed the move as “a falsification of history,” and warned it could cause the Middle East to “explode.”

“Israel is playing with fire and touching off the first spark to make the region explode,” he said.

“We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple,” he added.

Hatem Abdel Qader, who oversees Al-Quds affairs for Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah, said: “This is not just a synagogue.”

“This synagogue will be a prelude to violence, extremism and religious fanaticism, and that will not be limited to extremist Jews” but includes members of the Israeli occupying regime.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warns a third uprising will ensue if Israel pushes ahead with its practices in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

“If matters remain at this level, regardless of whether we take the decision or not, it [an intifada] is coming. If Israel continues these practices, it is coming,” Ma’an news agency quoted the organization’s executive committee member, Ahmed Qurei, as saying.

Intifada “is not a matter of official decision, but rather it arises from the culmination of oppression, injustice, aggression and tyranny. It is something the people decide,” Qurei told reporters during a Monday news conference in his office in East al-Quds.

“This is what happened with the two previous intifadas,” he recalled.

Qurei criticized repeated attempts by Tel Aviv to change the city’s demographic nature and the threat the regime posed to Arab Muslim and Christian identity. Israel’s policy is aimed at severing al-Quds from negotiations and fully annexing the city to Israel, he added.

On Monday, a synagogue rededication ceremony, a few hundred meters away from the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, drew angry protests from Palestinians and prompted Hamas to call for massive demonstrations and dubbed Tuesday Palestinians’ “day of rage.”

Qurei, too, condemned the reopening of the Hurva synagogue as a “dangerous program” seeking to “Judaize” al-Quds and to falsify history.

The PLO official also spoke of unprecedented aggression and provocation from Israelis, citing a recent leaflet distributed by radical Jews calling on non-Jews to leave al-Quds amid mounting speculations of an Israeli takeover of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Revealing an 1882 map of al-Quds, which illustrated planned Israeli settlements, the former Palestinian prime minister said it proved “an unprecedented danger, which targets its land, people, holy sites, heritage and history.”

Despite intense security measures by Israeli authorities on Tuesday and the presence of some 3,000 security forces in al-Quds, thousands of angry Palestinians gathered in different neighborhoods of the city and protested the restoration of the synagogue.

Israeli forces clashed with the Palestinian protestors and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators.

Iran has dismissed a recent report by an American paper which claimed Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons in the late 1980s.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast described the report as a “propaganda ploy that shows Washington’s ultimate frustration.”

In a Sunday article titled ‘Iran’s attempted deal with Pakistan,’ The Washington Post, quoted Abdul Qadir Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, as claiming that Tehran had attempted to purchase nuclear weapons and know-how from Islamabad.

The Post bases its report on “never officially disclosed” material written by Khan while under house arrest in 2004, but does not provide a source for its story.

“The US is using such allegations to deprive the Iranian nation of its nuclear rights, which have been internationally recognized,” Mehmanparast said Monday, adding that Washington was following an “Iranophobia project” to justify its military presence in the Middle East.

The Washington Post report comes while Abdul Qadir Khan has repeatedly dismissed such allegations.

Abdul Basit, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, also rejected the report on Monday and said, “It is yet another repackaging of fiction which surfaces occasionally for purposes that are self-evident.”

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has swept the vote in the country’s largest province, Baghdad, early results from parliamentary elections show.

With 60 percent of ballots counted, the prime minister’s Rule of Law Alliance garnered 518,203 votes, with the Iraqiya bloc of secular ex-premier Iyad Allawi coming in second with 453,028, AFP reported Monday.

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition of Shia religious groups, was in third place with around 323,975 votes, according to the report.

Earlier results released on Saturday, based on 18 percent of ballots counted, had put the Rule of Law around 50,000 votes ahead of both Iraqiya and the INA.

More than 6,200 candidates from six major coalitions and several other tribal and minority groups contested the parliamentary elections on March 7.

As Iran prepares for the Persian New Year, the Judiciary chief said Sunday the events of the past year, which ends March 21st, have made the Islamic Republic stronger than before.

Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani said although the year was “bittersweet,” its events had paved the ground for the foundation of the revolution, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported.

“Although the harsh post-vote events lacerated the public’s emotion, the active and conscious presence of the people foiled the [anti-Iran] plots,” he said in an allusion to the unrest that followed the presidential election in June.

Iran says Western powers, particularly the UK, were responsible for the unrest. The West, however, denies any involvement in the events that claimed the lives of a dozen civilians.

Ayatollah Larijani also expressed hope that the next year would be filled with success and public satisfaction.

Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani calls on Iranian youth and university students to choose a “rational” manner to express their views.

Rafsanjani said Sunday that everybody should be free to express their views, adding that “I will never ask them to remain silent.”

However, the former president added, “We should speak in a way that our crouching enemies and arrogant [powers] will not take advantage of it.”

He advised students to “express their views in a rational manner.”

“We ask you to assess the current situation well… despite unrests, long-term wars and sanctions, the Islamic Republic has been able to take major strides forward,” Rafsanjani said.

“I think individuals, including students, who have good things to say will be successful in rational situation, eventually,” the head of the Assembly of Experts said.

Early results from Iraq’s general elections show Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s coalition having a wide lead in the southern oil hub of Basra.

Maliki’s State of Law coalition had 219,657 votes compared to 121,497 for the Iraqi National Alliance.

Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, had 36,093 votes. The totals represented 63 percent of the vote in Basra Province.

The electoral commission’s Sunday announcement comes one day after results showed Maliki’s Law of Coalition leading in the capital Baghdad.

Initial results since Thursday have put the Rule of Law in the lead in the predominantly-Shia southern provinces of Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna.

More than 6,200 candidates from six major coalitions and several other tribal and minority groups contested the parliamentary elections on March 7, despite the prospects of violence and fear of subversion on the part of the loyalists to Baath — the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The event kicked off following the disqualification of suspected Baath sympathizers.

The elections day also saw more than 30 people killed in violent attacks.

After of series of breakthroughs in space research and technology, Iranian scientists prepare to send a rocket carrying a new payload of living organisms into orbit.

Mohammad Rezaei, a senior expert with Iran’s Aerospace Organization, said Sunday that the space mission may take place as soon as next year, Mehr News Agency reported.

“As soon as the Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) satellite carrier completes its current operation in space, we will launch our second mission with a new load of live organisms,” he said.

With the exclusive ability to transfer electronic data and live footage back to earth, Kavoshgar 3 was launched in space in February while carrying a rat, two turtles and worms onboard.

In February 2009, Iran joined a small group of countries that have the ability of both producing satellites and sending them into space using domestic launchers after placing its first domestically-made Omid (Hope) satellite into orbit.

The Omid data-processing satellite was designed to circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours and to transmit data via two frequency bands and eight antennas to an Iranian space station.

The country is also studying preliminary plans to send its very first astronaut into orbit in near future.

Iran’s space-related accomplishments have come as a surprise for European powers and the US, mainly because the country has been under Western sanctions for nearly 30 years.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says US is concerned about Iran’s influential role in Latin America, Central Asia and Africa, adding that the Islamic Republic is currently among the top world powers.

“This is not a rhetoric issue in a political war. This is a fact. The countries on the opposite side can do nothing without Iran,” he was quoted by IRNA as saying on Saturday.

“They (US officials) do not want to see Iran’s presence in international relations and equations. They have no option but to keep silent about consecutive victories of the Iranian nation,” he added.

The head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said, “Before the swear-in ceremony in 2005 I asked the the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei], to issue a permission for breaking the seal of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the leader agreed.”

“Despite oppositions [to the move] and threats of the enemy’s military attack, the government insisted on its stance,” Ahmadinejad said.

He touched upon the enemy’s “political game” in Iran’s nuclear case and said, “It aims to block and stop the path of the countries’ progress.”

He reiterated that the West could not stop Iran’s nuclear program by adopting further resolutions or imposing sanctions.

The Iranian president questioned NATO’s achievements in Afghanistan and said only Iran can help resolve regional crisis.

He disclosed efforts by certain powers and countries to change regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying, “They seek to prevent nations from making progress, but the Iranian nation will not let them.”

Israeli police have barred men under 50 from attending prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem Al-Quds on Sunday due to fear of another round of clashes.

On Friday, Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian worshippers after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, injuring one Palestinian and arresting three others.

In a measure meant to prevent more violence, on Saturday the Israeli police issued an order stating that no male under the age of 50 and no visitors from other religions will be allowed to enter Islam’s third holiest site for prayers on Sunday. Women will not be affected by the order.

Tension has risen since March 5, when Israeli police attacked Muslim worshippers after Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and imposed indefinite restrictions.

And the situation took a turn for the worse following Israel’s announcement last Tuesday that it plans to build another 1,600 homes for settlers in mostly Arab East Jerusalem Al-Quds, which Palestinians say should be the capital of their future state.

Israel’s illegal settlement construction continues despite international calls for a complete freeze on building on occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli officials have insisted that they will not accept a ‘complete freeze’ on settlement construction and that the plan to build homes for settlers in East Jerusalem Al-Quds will not be cancelled.

IRI Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said by reviving the concepts of jihad and martyrdom, Islamic Revolution created real awakening in the Islamic Ummah.

Speaking in the open session of parliament Saturday, Larijani said martyrdom is of great value in Islamic culture as it can change any political situation.

Being reluctant for martyrdom would push nations toward accepting abjection, he reiterated.

Larijani said 1,5 billion Muslims more than 60 years have lost the will to take action against the Zionist regime because of forgetting Jihad and martyrdom.

He described the victory of Lebanon’s Hizbollah and Palestinian’s resistance in 33-day and 22-day wars as the main result of the path.

“Although the arrogance forged the word of terrorism to make it equal with Jihad in the mind of nations but terrorism is a blind move and Jihad is a sacred one,” Larijani said.

He added that Jihad is not a personal issue but it follows Islamic revival and defending Muslims’ rights.

Preliminary returns from Iraq’s recent general elections award Premier Nouri al-Maliki’s parliamentary squad the lead in the capital, Baghdad.

The prime minister’s Rule of Law coalition is reportedly trailed by the Iraqi National Alliance and former prime minister Iyad Allawi’s Al-Iraqiya Alliance.

Maliki’s team also emerged victorious in two provinces to the south, the United Press International reported on Saturday.

Initial results since Thursday have put the Rule of Law in the lead in the predominantly-Shia southern provinces of Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna, AFP reported.

More than 6,200 candidates from six major coalitions and several other tribal and minority groups contested the parliamentary elections on March 7, despite the prospects of violence and fear of subversion on the part of the loyalists to Baath — the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The event kicked off following the disqualification of suspected Baath sympathizers. The elections day also saw more than 30 people killed in violent attacks.

Abbas al-Bayati, a senior member of Maliki’s coalition was, meanwhile, quoted by AFP as saying that the Rule of Law had formed a committee to begin negotiating with rival blocs to hammer out a government. “The committee met with representatives of four political entities that made progress in the elections,” he said.

This is while, Jamal al-Battikh from Allawi’s side is, recently told US-funded Radio Sawa that Al-Iraqiya might be deserted by a number of its members after they secure parliamentary seats.

A senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Opressed People on Saturday criticized the German government for releasing the ringleader of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) terrorist organization.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and senior adviser to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said Germany had broken international law by releasing Abdolrahman Haji Ahmadi, the PJAK leader.

Haji Ahmadi was arrested two weeks ago but was released a few days later.

PJAK is an offshoot of the internationally-recognized terrorist group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which conducts deadly operations in Kurdish-populated regions of western Iran.

Velayati said Germany had tarnished his image in the international arena by showing that it lacked independence in its foreign policy.

He accused Berlin of being under the influence of the White House.

According to a New York Times report in October 2007, PJAK has “direct or indirect discussions” with American officials. Its ringleader reportedly visited Washington in the summer of 2007.

The group is branded as a terrorist group by the United States.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that no “Zionist” was inside the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, as the terrorists flew the two hijacked planes into the two towers.

President Ahmadinejad said the arrogance, which “demonstrates the satanic characteristics of Satan,” sought to evoke sympathy by showing the impact of the planes jamming into the towers.

Led by Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda is believed to have carried out the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 plotters of terror attacks were Saudi nationals.

The terror attacks paved the ground for former President George W. Bush to dispatch the US Army to Afghanistan and Iraq and initiate two unpopular, costly wars that continue to date.

President Ahmadinejad said the US government was quick to pronounce that the terrorists were “Muslims,” the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“They launched a propaganda campaign for six months; they said 3,000 people were killed in the towers … but everyone knows that on the day of the attacks on the two towers, many of the Zionists had left the buildings since they already knew [about the terror plot],” he said.

“[The US Army] killed 100,000 people in Afghanistan and acted in a way that no one would ask them why this happened.”

Iran says the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East is the reason behind instability in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran seeks to establish and fortify unity among Palestinians against Israel.

Mehmanparast on Saturday dismissed remarks by acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas who claimed that Iran was impeding reconciliation talks between his Fatah group and the Hamas resistance movement.

“Iran doesn’t want Hamas to sign the Cairo reconciliation document,” Abbas said during a meeting in the Tunisian capital on Friday.

In response, Mehmanparast said that Iran sought unity and solidarity among Palestinians.

“In the first place, the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to create unity among Palestinians and in the second to seriously pursue the rights of the Palestinians to regain their land and return to their territory under a Palestinian government.”

Iran believes that the only solution to the Palestinian issue is to hold a free referendum, in which the Palestinians can determine their own fate.

Fatah and Hamas are yet to reach an Egyptian-mediated unity deal to end divisions.

The proposal put forward by Cairo, which acts as a mediator in the reconciliation talks, aims to lay the groundwork for new presidential and legislative elections.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has condemned the new Israeli plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The movement warned that the project seeks demographic changes in the occupied territories.

“The scheme is yet another part of a Judaization campaign that targets the holy city of al-Quds and a provocation of Muslim feeling, “the political party said in a statement released on Friday.

Hezbollah also accused the US of supporting Israel’s expansionist policies on Palestinian lands.

“The Zionist plan to construct hundreds of homes in al-Quds truly shows American cover to it.”

Israel’s interior ministry on Tuesday said it had approved the construction of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in the mainly Arab eastern sector of al-Quds.

The announcement sparked swift condemnation from the International community including Turkey, Lebanon, Brazil, China, Russia, and even the US and UK.

There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and 102 Israeli outposts built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967.

These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of approximately 462,000 Israeli settlers. Some 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around al-Quds and an additional 271,400 are spread throughout the West Bank.