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Jerusalem police sweep up alleged Palestinian rioters

Police arrested 52 Palestinians in east Jerusalem overnight, taking to more than 600 the number of alleged rioters seized since unrest erupted early July over the hate killing of a Palestinian teen.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP on Thursday that more arrests were expected.

"The majority of the incidents occurred in east Jerusalem against police officers who were on patrol; throwing stones and petrol bombs at them," he said.

"Police operations are continuing," he said, adding that 175 of those arrested so far were minors.

He could not say how many people were still in custody on Thursday.

"Some were released to house arrest, others were released until they face trial," he said.

He said the incidents related to the wave of clashes that erupted after the kidnap and murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khder from Shuafat, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Israeli prosecutors have charged three Jews with the brutal slaying, in which Khder was burned alive.

In the confrontations that followed, amateur video broadcast around the world showed masked and helmeted riot police holding down Abu Khder's 15-year-old American cousin Tariq while repeatedly punching and kicking him before dragging his seemingly unconscious body from the scene.

Tariq Abu Khder was on a family holiday and has since returned to his home in Tampa, Florida.

The US State Department said at the time it was "profoundly troubled" by the incident and called for "a speedy, transparent and credible investigation."

The Israeli justice ministry's police investigations department told AFP on Thursday that an indictment against a police officer had been drawn up and was expected to be filed after an internal hearing.

Israeli Arab rights group Mossawa said that in addition to the Jerusalem arrests, police had also detained another 600 Arab riot suspects from Israeli towns and villages.

Director Jafar Farah told AFP that the accused were being brought to court for collective trials.

"The police bring the youths to the court as a group, not as individuals and the judge accepts that and refuses to take them case by case," he said. "This is unprecedented.

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