UAE, Saudi condemn Israeli acts at Al Aqsa
Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Saturday condemned Israel’s plans to evict Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers, following a night of violence in occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Al Aqsa Mosque late on Friday.
The clashes at the holy site and around East Jerusalem, which injured 205 Palestinians and 17 police officers, came amid mounting anger over the planned evictions.
“Saudi Arabia rejects Israel’s plans and measures to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes and impose Israeli sovereignty over them,” the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The UAE strongly condemned the clashes and the potential evictions, in a statement by the UAE’S Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, and urged Israeli authorities to reduce tensions.
In the statement, Al Marar stressed “the need for Israeli authorities to assume their responsibilities — in line with international law — to provide necessary protection to Palestinian civilians’ right to practice their religion, and to prevent practices that violate the sanctity of the holy Al Aqsa Mosque”. —
Israel braced for more protests after clashes at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound wounded more than 200 people and as the international community urged calm after days of escalating violence.
In the unrest following Friday prayers, Israeli riot police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks. The violence was the worst in years to rock Al Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site.
Israeli police said 18 officers were wounded, while the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 205 Palestinians were injured in the violence that also saw skirmishes elsewhere in annexed east Jerusalem.
Video footage showed Israeli forces storming the mosque’s sprawling plaza and firing sound grenades inside the building, where throngs of worshippers were praying on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
Mosque director Omar Al Kiswani said in a video message that, directly after the Iftar meal “Al Aqsa mosque was stormed and unarmed worshippers were attacked to empty it”.
A reporter witnessed hundreds of Palestinians hurling stones at police.
He said officers locked the doors of the mosque, trapping worshippers for at least an hour.
The clashes came as tensions have soared over the threat to evict four Palestinian families to make way for Jewish settlers in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood close to the walled Old City’s Damascus Gate.
The Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, urged Palestinians to remain at the Al Aqsa compound until Thursday, when Ramadan ends, warning that “the resistance is ready to defend Al Aqsa at any cost”.
Inside Israel, dozens of Arab citizens protested in Nazareth in solidarity with Jerusalem Palestinians, holding signs that read “the occupation is terrorism”.
The United States — a staunch Israeli ally — said it was “extremely concerned” and urged both sides to “avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace”.
“This includes evictions in east Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions and acts of terrorism,” the State Department said.
The European Union called on the authorities “to act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions,” saying “violence and incitement are unacceptable and the perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable”.
Russia voiced “deep concern” and called the expropriation of land
Act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions. Violence and incitement are unacceptable and the perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable European Union
It is critical to avoid steps that exacerbate tensions ... This includes evictions in East Jerusalem, settlement activity home demolitions, and acts of terrorism
US State Department
and property in the occupied Palestinian territories including east Jerusalem “a violation of international law”.—