Police bolstered as Muslims worship in Israel
JERUSALEM — Israeli police beefed up forces in east Jerusalem on Saturday and blocked busloads of Muslim pilgrims headed to the Al-Aqsa mosque for the holiest night of Ramadan, threatening to escalate already heightened religious tensions that have unleashed the worst unrest in the holy city in years.
Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by Muslims who accuse Israel of threatening their freedom of worship. Tensions in east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have triggered major rounds of violence in the past.
Police Chief Koby Shabtai said he was deploying more officers in Jerusalem after a night of heavy clashes Friday between Palestinians and Israeli police. Israelis and Palestinians were bracing for more violence in the coming days.
Saturday night is Laylat al-Qadr, or the Night of Destiny, the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Thousands of worshippers were gathered for nighttime prayers at Al-Aqsa.
“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,” Shabtai said.
Police reported clashes with Palestinian protesters late Saturday in Jerusalem’s Old City, near Al-Aqsa, and in the nearby east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are fighting attempts by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes.
Police reported two arrests, and Palestinian medics said two protesters were hospitalized after being beaten by police. Police said one officer was struck in the face with a rock.
This evening, Jewish Israelis will begin marking Jerusalem Day, a national holiday celebrating the country’s annexation of east Jerusalem, and religious nationalists will hold parades and other celebrations in the city. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a verdict on the planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, and it views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as their capital, and its fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.
Earlier Saturday, police stopped more than a dozen buses filled with Arab citizens on the main highway heading to Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said police stopped the buses for a security check.
Travelers, upset that they were stopped without explanation on a hot day, exited the buses and blocked the highway in protest. Kan showed footage of the protesters praying, chanting slogans and marching along the highway toward Jerusalem. The road was reopened several hours later.
Ibtasam Maraana, an Arab member of Israel’s parliament, accused police of a “terrible attack” on freedom of religion. “Police: Remember that they are citizens, not enemies,” she wrote on Twitter.
In Friday night’s violence, Palestinian medics said, more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem. The violence drew condemnations from Israel’s Arab allies and calls for calm from the United States and Europe, and it prompted the Arab League to schedule an emergency meeting for Monday. Police said 18 officers were injured.
Protests broke out at the beginning of Ramadan nearly four weeks ago when Israel restricted gatherings at a popular meeting spot outside Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel removed the restrictions, briefly calming the situation, but protests have reignited in recent days over the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem.