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Palestinians and security forces clashed again on Saturday night (24) outside the Old City of Jerusalem, despite the prime minister’s request for calm. IsraelAnd the Benjamin Netanyahu.
Six Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Five of them received first aid immediately.
The confrontations were less intense than in Earlier days (Watch the video Below is about the early morning protests of the 23rd), an AFP journalist found.
The occupation police contain disturbances in the Old City of Jerusalem
In East Jerusalem, a Palestinian area occupied by and annexed by Israel, hundreds of policemen were dispatched Saturday night to the outskirts of the Old City to prevent further violence, after days of clashes between far-right Jews, Palestinians and security forces.
There were some light clashes at the Damascus Gate, which is one of the main means of reaching the mosque square, located in the Old City, after the last day’s prayers, in the middle of Ramadan, according to Agence France-Presse.
Some Palestinians threw water bottles at the policemen, who responded with bombs with moral effect. Others set fire to dumps in the streets near Bab al-Amud.
A Palestinian during a demonstration in the Old City of Jerusalem. Tires are burning in the background – Photo: Muhammad Salem / Reuters
Police said that hundreds of Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the Qalandia border crossing between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
“First of all, we want to preserve public law and order. Now, we demand respect for the law and I ask all parties to calm down,” Netanyahu said hours ago in a statement after an emergency meeting with Israeli security officials.
Netanyahu also announced that the Israeli army is “ready for any scenario” in the Gaza Strip, after about 30 rockets were fired from the Palestinian sector at southern Israel on Friday night. In response, tanks, fighters and helicopters attacked Hamas positions, the army said.
The military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules Gaza, offered its support to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and threatened Israel.
Three more rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday night, one of which was intercepted by the Israeli anti-missile shield, one of which exploded in wasteland and the other landed in the Gaza Strip, according to the army.
Tensions have escalated over incidents in recent days between Jews and Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The fiercest clashes took place Thursday night, when some Palestinians protested against a demonstration by supporters of an extremist right-wing Jewish movement, chanting “Death to the Arabs.” The Israeli forces, which had mobilized for this demonstration, obstructed the Palestinians’ advance. More than 100 Palestinians and about 20 policemen were injured.
A Palestinian detonates fireworks during an anti-Israel protest in Jerusalem on Saturday (24) – Photo: Muhammad Salem / Reuters
“We want to preserve freedom of worship like every year for all Jerusalem residents and tourists,” Netanyahu said, referring to praying at the mosque precincts, the holy place of Islam, in the middle of Ramadan.
In the face of increasing tension with the Palestinian sector, the Israeli Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, decided to postpone a visit to United State That has already been planned.
The clashes began in recent days in Jerusalem after police prevented residents from sitting on the stairs around the Damascus Gate, where Palestinians usually gather during Ramadan.
And since far-right Jews planned to demonstrate near this great gate leading to the Old City, many Palestinians saw this as a provocation and an attempt to take control of this symbolic place.
“The problem is that it is the month of Ramadan, and the police have closed the doors on the balcony (…) and we have been harassed by extremist Jews in recent days,” Mahmoud Issa, 30, told AFP on Saturday.
Around 1,000 protesters, almost all of them Israelis, gathered in central Jerusalem on Saturday night to demand peaceful coexistence and a return to calm.
On Saturday, the UN special envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wainesland, called “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation.”
“The provocative actions in Jerusalem must stop, and the indiscriminate firing of rockets into populated areas violates international law and must stop immediately,” he said in a statement.
The United States said it was “extremely concerned”. Jordan, which manages the Islamic holy sites in the Old City, condemned the Israeli “racist attacks” on Saturday and warned that Jerusalem is a “red line.”
a willThe enemy of Israel condemned the “attacks of the Zionist entity and the colonialists.”
