JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli police stormed Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque compound - one of Islams holiest sites - on Friday after protesters threw stones following the main weekly prayers, police and witnesses said. The police battled Muslims at the mosque compound, drawing Palestinian criticism on the eve of a US push to revive peace talks between the two sides. Police and hospital officials said several dozen people were wounded in the clashes, which ended with police leaving the compound after negotiating with Muslim authorities there. Running skirmishes between the sides continued in the lanes and alleys of the Old City outside the compound. There were also clashes in Ras el-Amud and Issawiya, in the predominantly Arab eastern part of Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Middle East war. The confrontations abated by dusk. The latest outbreak of violence, in which police fired teargas and threw stun grenades to disperse the stone-throwers, came less than a week after a similar incident at the same site and just ahead of visits by senior US officials trying a new approach to peacemaking. US President Barack Obamas Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected to arrive in the region on Saturday (today) and Vice-President Joe Biden is due early next week. During Fridays clashes, an Israeli police spokesman told AFP that eight Palestinians were arrested, adding nine injured Israeli policemen were hospitalised and six others given first aid on the spot. Hospitals in East Jerusalem admitted about 30 demonstrators for injuries caused by rubber bullets and teargas, medical staff said. Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina slammed the escalation of Israeli violence in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank aimed at sabotaging American efforts to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. There were similar outbreaks at the compound last Sunday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was placing two West Bank mosques -the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, which Israelis call Rachels Tomb, near Bethlehem, and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron - on a list of Israeli heritage sites. In Hebron on Friday, hundreds of Muslims protested at the Ibrahimi mosque site. Israeli troops fired teargas and stun grenades to break up the crowd, some of whom waved Palestinian flags and chanted, the Ibrahimi Mosque is ours. There were no reports of injuries. The Islamic Hamas movement, which opposes peace with Israel, said the Israeli use of force in Jerusalem and Hebron was a consequence of President Mahmoud Abbas and his Western-backed administrations agreement to deal - even indirectly - with the Israelis. The Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron is a natural result of the decision to resume negotiations, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, which hinted further unrest could lie ahead. All the options are open to our people, it said.