Holy City clashes continue
AS CLASHES continue in East Jerusalem with the pending eviction of Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers, and there are repeated raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces and the death toll rises in Gaza, anger and frustration within Israel’s Green Line has reached boiling point.
On Wednesday, Israel declared a state of emergency and a night curfew in the northern city of Lod, where a young Palestinian man was shot dead by an Israeli and protesters clashed with Israeli forces during the funeral procession on Tuesday night.
This was the second time in the city’s history that a state of emergency had been declared, the first being in 1966 before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
During the clashes, a police vehicle was set alight and two policemen were reported injured. However, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz refused to acknowledge the violence was related to security forces cracking down on protesters whom they labelled “criminals”.
Clashes were also reported overnight in other Palestinian cities in northern Israel, including Akko, Tiberius, Deir Al Asad and Qalansuwa, during which property, police stations and cars were attacked and burnt while fires engulfed the towns of Wadi Ara, Jisr as Zarqa and Um al Fahm.
Israeli police responded with stun grenades and rubber bullets before arresting dozens of Palestinians.
There were also reports of gunmen opening fire on Israeli police in Beer Sheba in the south of Israel.
Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai said this kind of violence had not been seen since the second Palestinian Intifada – which erupted in October 2000 after former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon paid a controversial visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque despite warnings against this by Israeli security officials.
Palestinian fury over unfolding events also spread to refugee camps, cities, towns and border crossing points in the West Bank, with two young Palestinian men shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday night during clashes, after Israeli troops raided a number of areas and carried out arrest of journalists, students and Hamas supporters.
According to Palestinian social media reports, journalist Muhammed Nimer from the village of Tel, southwest of Nablus, was arrested as was photographer Hazem Nasser.
Sameh Afana and An-Najah university student Hudhaifa Al-Taweel were both arrested in Qalqilya. The homes of several Hamas leaders were also raided but they were not home.
Palestinian gunmen traded gunfire with Israeli forces in Jenin in the northern West Bank, Qalandia refugee camp near Ramallah and Anata, northeast of Jerusalem.
Clashes between Palestinian protesters also took place all over the West Bank.
In Ramallah a protest took place in the city centre on Tuesday night, while in the early hours of the morning a group of youths in the street shouted “no to Israel yes to Palestine”.
The mood among Palestinians in the city, even the most moderate, was one of anger at the situation in Sheikh Jarrah, Al Aqsa and in Gaza, with the general sentiment being that Israel needed to be challenged despite the high price Palestinians were paying in terms of lost lives, destroyed homes and further suffering.
“Gazans are humans and should have the same rights as everybody else,” said restaurateur Ayser Zain.
“They are sick of the situation where every time there is conflict with Israel, it repeatedly breaks promises to extend Gaza’s fishing zone and improve the humanitarian situation.
“The only way to challenge the occupation is to challenge Israel’s comfort levels because nothing else works. We all support Gaza,” said Zain.
His older brother, Ayman Zain, held a different view, saying the conflict was about “religious nonsense” and the competing claims of Jews and Muslims using their respective faiths to claim ownership over Al-Aqsa.