JERUSALEM – Hundreds were wounded in new clashes today between Palestinians and Israeli security forces here as a planned march marking Israel’s 1967 takeover of the holy city threatened to further inflame tensions.
Palestinians hurled projectiles at Israeli officers in riot gear who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, an AFP correspondent at the scene said, following a night of sporadic clashes.
“There are hundreds of people injured from the clashes” and about 50 were hospitalised, the Palestinian Red Crescent said about the latest unrest since violence escalated following the last Friday prayers of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The clashes were the latest in days of the worst such disturbances in Jerusalem since 2017, fuelled by a years-long bid by Jewish settlers to take over nearby Palestinian homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
A key court hearing scheduled for today on Sheikh Jarrah, the flashpoint east Jerusalem neighbourhood at the centre of the property dispute, has been postponed.
There were fears of further violence in the city ahead of a planned march today by Israelis to commemorate Israel’s takeover of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, an anniversary known as “Jerusalem Day” in the Jewish state.
Israeli police had, as of yesterday, approved the march, which was scheduled to start about 4pm (1300 GMT).
The leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, Bezalel Smotrich, has also announced a visit today to the tense Sheikh Jarrah district.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday defended Israel’s response to the protests and rioting.
“We will uphold law and order – vigorously and responsibly,” Netanyahu said while vowing to “guard freedom of worship for all faiths”. – AFP, May 10, 2021
