Israeli Forces Clash with Palestinian Protesters in Al-Quds Neighborhood (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israeli forces clashed with protesters in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where demonstrators poured in to support Palestinians facing eviction by Jewish settlers.
The scuffles on Friday came alongside protests elsewhere in the occupied West Bank.
Tensions that erupted in Sheikh Jarrah last year – as several Palestinian families faced eviction by settler groups – in part sparked the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in May.
In al-Quds, Palestinian men laid rugs on the asphalt of a street and carried out prayers. Later, activists who ended up numbering in the hundreds joined them to protest the looming evictions.
Reporters for the AFP news agency observed Israeli border police charging the protesters on horseback after the activists refused to clear a road.
An AFP photographer observed two people being detained. However, police said no arrests were reported.
Sheikh Jarrah has emerged as a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israeli control of East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Israel captured East Jerusalem al-Quds from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it – a move not recognised by the international community.
Palestinians also confronted Israeli forces in Hebron – in the southern West Bank – and in the northern West Bank’s Beita.
In Beita, residents opposed to an Israeli outpost erected on village land used slingshots to hurl rocks at Israeli forces who responded with what the army called “riot dispersal means”.
Wafa reported 23 Palestinians were hurt. An AFP photographer was wounded by a rubber-coated bullet fired by Israeli forces.
The Hamas resistance movement warned on Thursday that “violation of the red lines in Sheikh Jarrah” could “prepare the atmosphere for the next explosion”.