Police and protesters clash in Jerusalem
ISRAELI police have clashed with Palestinian protesters outside Jerusalem’s Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city’s worst religious unrest in several years.
The clashes come after police blocked busloads of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for prayer at Islam’s third holiest site.
Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by Muslims who accuse Israel of threatening their freedom of worship.
On Friday, Palestinian medics said more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the Alaqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem. The violence drew condemnations from Israel’s Arab allies and calls for calm from the US, Europe and the United Nations. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting today.
Yesterday, the Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza
Strip fired a rocket at the country’s south that fell in an open area.
In response, aircraft struck a military post for Hamas, the militant group ruling the territory. There were no reports of casualties in either attack. Police chief Koby Shabtai said he had deployed more police in Jerusalem following Friday night’s clashes, which left 18 police officers wounded.
After weeks of nightly violence, Israelis and Palestinians were bracing for more conflict in the coming days. Mr Shabtai said: “The right to demonstrate will be respected but public disturbances will be met with force and zero tolerance. I call on everyone to act responsibly and with restraint.”
Saturday was Laylat al-qadr, or the Night of Destiny, the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic authorities estimated 90,000 people gathered for nighttime prayers at Al-aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam. A large crowd of protesters chanted outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, and some pelted police with rocks and water bottles. Police patrols fired stun grenades, and a police truck periodically fired a water cannon.
Palestinian medics said 64 Palestinians were wounded, mostly by rubber bullets, stun grenades or beatings, among them a woman whose face was bloodied.
Earlier, police reported clashes in the Old City, near Al-aqsa, and in the nearby east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are fighting attempts by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes.
Meanwhile, police have given the go-ahead to the annual Jerusalem Day parade today, a flag-waving display of Israeli claims to all of the city, despite the soaring Israeli-palestinian tensions. The parade will pass through the Old City, part of east Jerusalem, which was captured and annexed by Israel in 1967.