For the second night in a row, mass prayers by Palestinians in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the last weekend of the holy month of Ramadan, and attempts by Palestinian families to avoid being evicted ended today with scenes of clashes and repression that left more than 50 injured, in the midst of a climate of extreme tension.
All day the tension grew in anticipation of the final explosion: the Israeli police, which considerably expanded their presence in East Jerusalem, half of the city with a Palestinian majority that the UN considered occupied since 1967, repressed with tear gas, rubber bullets and deafening grenades to some of the more than 80,000 Palestinians who managed to enter the Esplanade of the Mosques to pray.
It is not yet clear how the clashes and repression began.
“So far we have 53 injured,” a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent informed the AFP news agency and explained that they were the products of clashes and repression in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where families are trying to avoid being evicted, and at the door from Damascus and Bab al-Zahra which connects the Old City with the eastern part of Jerusalem.
Hours before, Israel had stopped the groups that brought the tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers to the Old City of Jerusalem – the Palestinians got out and continued on foot – and then the police reported dozens of detainees, according to the local newspaper Haaretz.
Saturday prayer is the most important prayer of the week for Muslims and today is the last Saturday of the holy month of Ramadan. That, added to the new night of violence suffered by hundreds of faithful last night, generated a climate of tension that did not stop increasing hour after hour, despite the calls for calm from the United States, the European Union and regional powers last night.
Haaretz reported 29 detainees today, in addition to those of yesterday, when 205 Palestinians and 17 Israeli policemen were also injured in the Esplanade of the Mosques, one of the most disputed places in the Old City of Jerusalem, located in the eastern part of the city, which the international community recognizes as occupied by Israel.
As is often the case, each side accused the other of initiating the violence: Israeli police said that the Palestinian faithful threw stones and bottles at them and they responded with rubber bullets, tear gas and deafening grenades; while the Palestinians argued that it happened the other way around.
The clashes came after tensions rose in recent weeks over Israeli restrictions on access to parts of the Old City during Ramadan and the threat of eviction weighing on four Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to make way for Jewish settlers.
In addition, hours earlier, the Israeli police killed two Palestinians and seriously wounded a third, after they opened fire on a military checkpoint in the northern West Bank.
The tension and violence were not repeated tonight only in the Old City, but also in Sheikh Jarrah, around the tent that families in danger of eviction, neighbors, friends and activists raised to maintain a vigil and not allow the entry of settlers or bulldozers.
Viralized videos on social networks showed how dozens of Israeli police tried to disarm the tent over and over again in a major security deployment, which did not push back the Palestinians from the neighborhood, already famous for their struggle to stop the constant evictions.
Sheikh Jarrah became a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, but the Esplanade of the Mosques (called the Temple Mount by the Jews) is of paramount importance not only for the Palestinians, but for the Islamic world.
It is a holy place for Islam and is located just above the Wailing Wall, the most important prayer place for Jews.
Although tension is common in that part of the Old City of Jerusalem, violence is not within the esplanade, which is usually monitored from a distance by the Israeli police.
But Friday was the last of the fasting month of Ramadan and a large crowd of Muslims gathered on the esplanade.
Faced with the violence, the United States said it was “deeply concerned” and urged both parties to avoid measures that “exacerbate tensions or further drive peace away,” such as “colonization activities, house demolitions, and acts of terrorism.” .
The European Union today called on the Israeli authorities to act “urgently” to reduce tensions in Jerusalem, saying that “violence and incitement are unacceptable and everyone involved must be held accountable.”
Jordan, officially the guardian of the Muslim holy sites in East Jerusalem, denounced “a savage aggression” by the Israeli security forces.
Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Bahrain also criticized the Israeli forces.
The UN, for its part, yesterday called on Israel to end the forced expulsions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and warned that these actions could be considered “war crimes.”
The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also tough on Israel today: “We strongly condemn Israel’s horrible attacks against the Al Qasa Mosque -which points us in the direction of Mecca-, the same ones that unfortunately occur every Ramadan. “he wrote on his Twitter. (Télam)
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