"We never thought we would be facing Palestinian riots," he said.

When the Palestinian riots spread through the areas the Israelis have occupied since the 1967 war, the Government at first avoided calling in combat units.

But a police spokesman said the Israeli forces had been trying to stop a Palestinian riot and protect worshipers at the Western Wall, below the plateau.

But in 1996, after Palestinian riots in Jerusalem, the Arab boys from a neighboring school began throwing stones over the wall.

Their attention, like that of the public at large, has been virtually monopolized by Palestinian riots in the occupied territories.

In September 1996, a Palestinian riot broke out against the creation of an exit in the Western Wall tunnel.

Page A1 Israel rejected a U.S. assertion that Israeli troops had used excessive force in quelling Palestinian riots.

Israeli officials today rejected the Reagan Administration's assertion that Israeli troops had used excessive force in quelling Palestinian riots.

They were seeking to avoid a Palestinian riot in Nablus against the incarceration, and to avoid having the Israelis intercept the men on the way.

During those years, Israeli politics has moved sharply to the right in response to continuing Palestinian riots.