Analysis: Unbalanced battle for Jerusalem

Israeli troops were out in force

By defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus

Some Palestinians are calling this "the battle for Jerusalem", and with good reason.

For the Israel-Palestinian conflict has now been stripped down to its bare essentials - sovereignty over the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem is the central issue.

"Battle" is also an appropriate term given that this violence and the casualty toll that has resulted, is reminiscent of a war rather than an ordinary riot.

There's a danger that both sides could be losing control with the Palestinian Authority chairman, Yasser Arafat, either unable or unwilling to halt the disturbances, and the Israeli security forces tempted to resort to ever heavier fire-power.

Unbalanced forces

Some small rockets have already been used by the Israelis.

So far, despite requests from commanders on the ground, fire support from attack helicopters have only been used in an attempt to rescue trapped Israeli personnel.

Israeli soldiers used live rounds and rubber bullets against the demonstrators

The heavy death toll on the Palestinian side is in part a reflection of tactics and training.

Ordinary people, even backed up by elements of the Palestinian security forces, can be no match for trained troops.

The involvement of Palestinian paramilitary police has clearly given the Palestinian side some limited firepower of their own but their largely light weapons are no match for the Israelis' much heavier firepower.

Indeed, the use of firearms by the Palestinians has probably indirectly contributed to the much greater casualty toll, by provoking a much stronger Israeli response.

The Palestinians have been very much on the offensive and Israeli press reports note that many of the Israeli units are in strong-points or prepared positions making them far less vulnerable to Palestinian fire.

In purely military terms there is simply no contest. The Israelis can bring overwhelming fire-power to bear should this be required.

Heavy armour has already been on the move.

But if the hope is to overwhelm the Palestinians by a show of force the Israelis may find their huge military advantages are little more than an albatross around their necks.

The performance of the Israeli forces has sparked considerable international criticism of their actions.

It is by no means clear how precise their rules of engagement are or the extent to which they may be straying from them.

Nonetheless, the Israelis are unlikely to be swayed by such criticism since the stakes in what is increasingly looking like a small-scale rerun of the Palestinian intifadah are increasingly high.