Hundreds Of Palestinians Clashed With Police In Mainly Arab East Jerusalem
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 5:44 pm
JERUSALEM : Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with police in mainly Arab east Jerusalem on Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the Holy City where Israel vowed to expand Jewish settlements.
Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at protesters who hurled rocks at security forces in the Shuafat refugee camp. The Palestinians dispersed after security forces moved in.
Similar clashes broke out in other parts of mainly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Police said two officers were injured, but did not mention Palestinian casualties. Several people were arrested, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
A heavy security presence was evident around the Old City, and police said they deployed 3,000 officers in Jerusalem.
Israel’s announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem infuriated not only the Palestinians, but also the US administration which had sent Vice President Joe Biden to the region to promote new Middle East peace talks.
Mitchell on Tuesday postponed a visit to region, the Israeli president’s office said, without giving further details.
Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis after a 14-month hiatus in negotiations, but the outlook for a resumption soon of the peace process looks bleak.
The reopening of a twice-destroyed synagogue in Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Monday further fuelled tensions.
Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound — Islam’s third holiest site — as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there. Jews call the compound Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because their second Temple stood there before Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.
Rival Palestinian factions united in condemning the high-security opening of the landmark synagogue, which had last been destroyed 62 years ago in fighting with Jordan.
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