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Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces in mainly Arab east Jerusalem Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the Holy City where Israel has vowed to expand Jewish settlements.

As the unrest rocked Jerusalem, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell delayed a visit to the region amid the most severe diplomatic row in decades between Israel and the United States, which has been struggling to revive peace talks.

Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs in several neighbourhoods.

Six Palestinians were taken to hospital, including two with moderate to serious injuries -- one to the eye and the other to the shoulder -- according to the emergency services of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two officers were wounded and 15 Palestinians arrested.

The rioting broke out at dawn and spiralled in several neighbourhoods.

A few hundred metres (yards) from the Qalandia checkpoint between Israel and the West Bank, dozens of Palestinian youths, several of them masked, set tyres ablaze and hurled molotov cocktails and stones at security forces who fired rubber bullets.

In the Old City shots, apparently fired by security forces, could be heard from the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Police, who were out in force, prevented movement through much of the Old City.

There were also clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp and other parts of east Jerusalem which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.

In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip thousands of people took to the streets, pledging to protect the Holy City. "With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice for you, Jerusalem," the crowds, most of them students, chanted. Related article: Hamas calls for 'intifada'

Israel's announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem 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.

Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis after a 14-month hiatus in negotiations, but the outlook for a swift resumption of the peace process looks bleak.

The reopening of a twice-destroyed synagogue in Jerusalem's walled Old City on Monday further fuelled tensions.

Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound -- Islam's third holiest site -- as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there.

Jews call the compound Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because their second Temple stood there before Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.

Rival Palestinian factions united in condemning the high-security opening of the landmark synagogue, which had last been destroyed 62 years ago in fighting with Jordan.

"This is no mere synagogue," said Hatem Abdel Qader, the official in charge of Jerusalem affairs for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement.

"This synagogue will be a prelude to violence and religious fanaticism and extremism, and this is not limited to Jewish extremists but includes members of the Israeli government," he added.

The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip declared Tuesday a "day of rage and alarm" over the opening of the synagogue in the Old City, calling on Arabs and Muslims to "come to the aid of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa."

The US State Department took strong exception to the Palestinian statements, saying "such incitement" would heighten tensions.

Palestinians were all the more irate since Israeli police have maintained restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound since Friday.

Israel has also sealed off the occupied West Bank citing security reasons.

AFP