Clashes over Israel heritage sites

Israeli soldiers have used tear gas and stun grenades against stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in the West bank town of Hebron. The unrest on Monday followed a decision by the Israeli prime minister to include a shrine in the city, and another in Bethlehem, on a list of Israeli heritage sites. "We understand that the situation has calmed down, but a general strike is still in effect in Hebron," Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Bethlehem, said. "The Palestinians are outraged because they consider this a statement of Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian land." Shopkeepers in Hebron had closed their stores for the day in protest at the decision Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to include the Cave of the Patriarchs on the list of about 150 sites that the government protects. The city has long been a flashpoint between Palestinians and Israelis, with several hundred Jewish settlers living in heavily guarded enclaves among approximately 160,000 Palestinians.