Israeli-Palestinian Clashes Erupt in Jerusalem as Holidays Converge
The violence broke out at the Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, on the first day of a rare concurrence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter.
Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli police clashing at the Aqsa Mosque
Patrick Kingsley is the Jerusalem bureau chief, covering Israel and the occupied territories. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. @PatrickKingsley
Raja Abdulrahim is a correspondent in Jerusalem focused on Palestinian affairs. @RajaAbdulrahim
The violence broke out at the Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, on the first day of a rare concurrence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter.
Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli police clashing at the Aqsa Mosque
compound in Jerusalem on Friday.
Credit...Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press
By Patrick Kingsley and Raja Abdulrahim
April 15, 2022
JERUSALEM — Clashes between Israeli riot police and Palestinians erupted at one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem early on Friday, the first day of a rare convergence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter, culminating weeks of escalating violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The clashes between the Israelis and Palestinians throwing stones lasted for hours at the site, the Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, as tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers were gathered there for dawn prayers on the second Friday of Ramadan, the holy fasting month.
Many more people were expected to pour into the Old City during the day for the Muslim weekly Friday Prayer and to celebrate Good Friday and the first night of Passover, which begins at sundown.
The Israeli police fired sound grenades and rubber bullets during hours of clashes at the site, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. The police expelled many of the worshipers, but some returned afterward. At least 117 Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Israeli police said that several officers had also been injured.
The confrontation raised the risk of further escalation following a recent wave of Arab attacks on Israelis and deadly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank. Tensions and violence around the Aqsa Mosque compound played a central role in the buildup to an 11-day war last May between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
By Patrick Kingsley and Raja Abdulrahim
April 15, 2022
JERUSALEM — Clashes between Israeli riot police and Palestinians erupted at one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem early on Friday, the first day of a rare convergence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter, culminating weeks of escalating violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The clashes between the Israelis and Palestinians throwing stones lasted for hours at the site, the Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, as tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers were gathered there for dawn prayers on the second Friday of Ramadan, the holy fasting month.
Many more people were expected to pour into the Old City during the day for the Muslim weekly Friday Prayer and to celebrate Good Friday and the first night of Passover, which begins at sundown.
The Israeli police fired sound grenades and rubber bullets during hours of clashes at the site, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. The police expelled many of the worshipers, but some returned afterward. At least 117 Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Israeli police said that several officers had also been injured.
The confrontation raised the risk of further escalation following a recent wave of Arab attacks on Israelis and deadly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank. Tensions and violence around the Aqsa Mosque compound played a central role in the buildup to an 11-day war last May between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Patrick Kingsley is the Jerusalem bureau chief, covering Israel and the occupied territories. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. @PatrickKingsley
Raja Abdulrahim is a correspondent in Jerusalem focused on Palestinian affairs. @RajaAbdulrahim
Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem holy site
According to cops protestors entered compound, revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as Noble Sanctuary, to break up a violent crowd that remained at the end of morning prayers
Palestinian protestors clash with Israeli security forces.
Reuters
Reuters | Jerusalem | Published 15.04.22
At least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the Palestine Red Crescent said, two weeks into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country during the past two weeks, and confrontations at the sacred Jerusalem site carry the risk of sparking a slide back into wider conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
In a statement, Israeli police said hundreds of Palestinians hurled firecrackers and stones at their forces and toward the nearby Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City after Ramadan morning prayers.
Police entered the Al-Aqsa compound to "disperse and push back (the crowd and) enable the rest of the worshippers to leave the place safely", it said, adding that three officers were injured in the clashes.
Reuters video showed officers, some in riot gear, chasing a small number of people after most of the crowd had left.
Israeli police arrested more than 80 Palestinians, Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Palestine TV.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it "holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences".
“Immediate intervention by the international community is needed to stop Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from going out of control,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who governs self-ruled areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza, said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences".
The Al-Aqsa compound, which sits atop the Old City plateau and is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Temple Mount, is the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tensions this year have been heightened in part by Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Last year saw nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police during the Muslim fasting month. Threats of Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem and police raids at Al-Aqsa helped ignite an 11-day Israel-Gaza war that killed more than 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 people in Israel.
Since March, Israeli forces have killed 29 Palestinians as in the course of carrying out raids in the West Bank after Palestinian assailants killed 14 Israelis in a string of attacks in Israeli cities.
Al-Aqsa is the third holiest in Islam and is also revered by Jews as the location of two ancient temples.
Israel captured the Old City and other parts of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims the entire city as its eternal, indivisible capital. Palestinians seek to make East Jerusalem, including its Muslim, Christian and Jewish holy sites, the capital of a future state.
According to cops protestors entered compound, revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as Noble Sanctuary, to break up a violent crowd that remained at the end of morning prayers
Palestinian protestors clash with Israeli security forces.
Reuters
Reuters | Jerusalem | Published 15.04.22
At least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the Palestine Red Crescent said, two weeks into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert after a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout the country during the past two weeks, and confrontations at the sacred Jerusalem site carry the risk of sparking a slide back into wider conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
In a statement, Israeli police said hundreds of Palestinians hurled firecrackers and stones at their forces and toward the nearby Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City after Ramadan morning prayers.
Police entered the Al-Aqsa compound to "disperse and push back (the crowd and) enable the rest of the worshippers to leave the place safely", it said, adding that three officers were injured in the clashes.
Reuters video showed officers, some in riot gear, chasing a small number of people after most of the crowd had left.
Israeli police arrested more than 80 Palestinians, Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Palestine TV.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it "holds Israel fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences".
“Immediate intervention by the international community is needed to stop Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from going out of control,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who governs self-ruled areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza, said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences".
The Al-Aqsa compound, which sits atop the Old City plateau and is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Temple Mount, is the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tensions this year have been heightened in part by Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Last year saw nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police during the Muslim fasting month. Threats of Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem and police raids at Al-Aqsa helped ignite an 11-day Israel-Gaza war that killed more than 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 people in Israel.
Since March, Israeli forces have killed 29 Palestinians as in the course of carrying out raids in the West Bank after Palestinian assailants killed 14 Israelis in a string of attacks in Israeli cities.
Al-Aqsa is the third holiest in Islam and is also revered by Jews as the location of two ancient temples.
Israel captured the Old City and other parts of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims the entire city as its eternal, indivisible capital. Palestinians seek to make East Jerusalem, including its Muslim, Christian and Jewish holy sites, the capital of a future state.
By Euronews with AP • Updated: 15/04/2022 -
Israeli security forces gather during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City -
Copyright AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean
Israeli security forces entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.
The resulting clashes wounded at least 67 Palestinians, medical teams on the scene said.
Israel said its forces entered to remove rocks and stones that had been gathered in anticipation of violence.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday.
The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem's Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Israeli police scuffle with protesters in Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli forces 'kill Palestinian attacker' after manhunt following Tel Aviv shooting
Videos circulating online showed police firing tear gas and stun grenades and Palestinians hurling rocks and fireworks on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque.
Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque itself amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated 67 people to hospitals who had been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades or beaten with batons.
The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
Police acted to prevent violence, Israeli authorities say
The Israeli police said three officers were wounded as a result of “massive stone-throwing”, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday and gathered stones.
“Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence,” it tweeted.
The police said they waited until prayers were over and the crowds started to disperse. In a statement, it said crowds started hurling rocks in the direction of the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act. They said they did not enter the mosque itself.
Israel's national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront “violent elements” that confronted them with stones and metal bars.
He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike. Police said Friday's noon prayers at the mosque — when tens of thousands of people were expected — would take place as usual.
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Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicentre of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence.
Clashes at the site last year sparked an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.
Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity.
It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicentre of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Tensions keep soaring
Tensions have become increasingly heightened in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel.
Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Rocket barrage fired at Israel after Hamas commanders killed
Israel strikes Hamas targets as Gaza conflict continues
Israel had lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.
Hamas condemned what it said were “brutal attacks" on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear "all the consequences." It called on all Palestinians to “stand by our people in Jerusalem.”
Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.
Israeli security forces entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.
The resulting clashes wounded at least 67 Palestinians, medical teams on the scene said.
Israel said its forces entered to remove rocks and stones that had been gathered in anticipation of violence.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday.
The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem's Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Israeli police scuffle with protesters in Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli forces 'kill Palestinian attacker' after manhunt following Tel Aviv shooting
Videos circulating online showed police firing tear gas and stun grenades and Palestinians hurling rocks and fireworks on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque.
Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque itself amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated 67 people to hospitals who had been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades or beaten with batons.
The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
Police acted to prevent violence, Israeli authorities say
The Israeli police said three officers were wounded as a result of “massive stone-throwing”, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday and gathered stones.
“Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence,” it tweeted.
The police said they waited until prayers were over and the crowds started to disperse. In a statement, it said crowds started hurling rocks in the direction of the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act. They said they did not enter the mosque itself.
Israel's national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront “violent elements” that confronted them with stones and metal bars.
He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike. Police said Friday's noon prayers at the mosque — when tens of thousands of people were expected — would take place as usual.
Israeli police demolish Palestinian home in controversial East Jerusalem eviction
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Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicentre of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence.
Clashes at the site last year sparked an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.
Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity.
It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicentre of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Tensions keep soaring
Tensions have become increasingly heightened in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel.
Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Rocket barrage fired at Israel after Hamas commanders killed
Israel strikes Hamas targets as Gaza conflict continues
Israel had lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.
Hamas condemned what it said were “brutal attacks" on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear "all the consequences." It called on all Palestinians to “stand by our people in Jerusalem.”
Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.
In pictures: Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa Mosque in dawn raid
Israeli forces have injured scores of Palestinian worshippers inside al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem
MEE and agencies
15 April 2022
Israeli security forces entered the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan (Reuters)
Footage showed worshippers attempting to barricade themselves inside the mosque as Israeli forces stormed the area (Reuters)
Scores of people were injured as Israeli security officers fired rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas and stun grenades inside the courtyards and prayer halls of the mosque (AFP)
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the raid and said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences" (AFP)
Medics, journalists, mosque volunteers and women were targeted, according to Palestinian media reports (AFP)
The raid came ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, set to start on Friday and last until 23 April, during which far-right Israeli settlers have vowed to raid al-Aqsa Mosque and slaughter animals inside its courtyard as a religious sacrifice (Reuters)
Israeli forces have injured scores of Palestinian worshippers inside al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem
MEE and agencies
15 April 2022
Israeli security forces entered the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan (Reuters)
Footage showed worshippers attempting to barricade themselves inside the mosque as Israeli forces stormed the area (Reuters)
Scores of people were injured as Israeli security officers fired rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas and stun grenades inside the courtyards and prayer halls of the mosque (AFP)
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the raid and said Israel "bears responsibility for the consequences" (AFP)
Medics, journalists, mosque volunteers and women were targeted, according to Palestinian media reports (AFP)
The raid came ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover, set to start on Friday and last until 23 April, during which far-right Israeli settlers have vowed to raid al-Aqsa Mosque and slaughter animals inside its courtyard as a religious sacrifice (Reuters)
More than 100 hurt in Jerusalem clashes as religious festivals overlap
By AFP
Published April 15, 2022
Guillaume Lavallee
More than 100 people were wounded Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in fresh violence as Jewish and Christian festivals overlap with Ramadan.
Israeli police said that before dawn “dozens of masked men” marched into Al-Aqsa chanting and setting off fireworks before crowds hurled stones towards the Western Wall — considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.
A Palestinian Red Crescent official said 117 people were rushed to hospitals and “dozens of other injuries” were treated at the scene. Israeli police said three officers were hurt.
The latest clashes come after three tense weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Jewish festival of Passover and Christian Easter overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site. Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount, referencing two temples said to have stood there in antiquity.
Witnesses said Palestinian protesters threw stones at Israeli security forces, who fired rubber-coated bullets and sound grenades towards some of them.
An AFP photographer said more than 100 Palestinians were seen hurling projectiles towards the Israeli security forces.
– ‘Violent riot’ –
Last year during the Muslim month of fasting, clashes that flared in Jerusalem, including between Israeli forces and Palestinians visiting Al-Aqsa, led to 11 days of devastating conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
The mosque compound is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, falling within Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Israeli police said that on Friday, dozens of masked men “marched into Al-Aqsa mosque at 04:00… chanting inciting messages and setting off fireworks” and collecting “stones, wooden planks and large objects, which were then used in a violent riot”.
“Despite these actions, police forces waited until the prayer was over,” a statement said.
“Crowds then began to hurl rocks in the direction of the Western Wall… and as the violence surged, police were forced to enter the grounds surrounding the Mosque,” it said, adding police “did not enter the mosque.”
The violence subsided later in the morning, AFP correspondents said.
“We have no interest in the Temple Mount becoming a centre of violence, which will harm both the Muslim worshippers there and the Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall,” Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said on Twitter.
Before Ramadan began this month, Israel and Jordan stepped up talks in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s violence.
Jordan serves as custodian of the mosque compound, while Israel controls access.
– Spiralling violence –
Israel has poured additional forces into the West Bank and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks in the Jewish state that have mostly killed civilians in the past three weeks.
A total of 14 people have been killed in the attacks since March 22, including a shooting spree in Bnei Brak, an Orthodox Jewish city in greater Tel Aviv, carried out by a Palestinian attacker from Jenin.
Twenty-one Palestinians have been killed in that time, including assailants who targeted Israelis, according to an AFP tally.
On Thursday Israel announced it would block crossings from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel from Friday afternoon through Saturday, the first two nights of the week-long Passover festival, and potentially keep the crossings closed for the rest of the holiday.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has given Israeli forces a free hand to “defeat terror” in the territory which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, warning that there would “not be limits” for the campaign.
Some of the attacks in Israel were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel linked to or inspired by the Islamic State group, others by Palestinians, and cheered by militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Three Palestinians died Thursday as Israeli forces launched fresh raids into the West Bank flashpoint district of Jenin, a week after the Bnei Brak attack.
By AFP
Published April 15, 2022
Guillaume Lavallee
More than 100 people were wounded Friday in clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in fresh violence as Jewish and Christian festivals overlap with Ramadan.
Israeli police said that before dawn “dozens of masked men” marched into Al-Aqsa chanting and setting off fireworks before crowds hurled stones towards the Western Wall — considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.
A Palestinian Red Crescent official said 117 people were rushed to hospitals and “dozens of other injuries” were treated at the scene. Israeli police said three officers were hurt.
The latest clashes come after three tense weeks of deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, and as the Jewish festival of Passover and Christian Easter overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site. Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount, referencing two temples said to have stood there in antiquity.
Witnesses said Palestinian protesters threw stones at Israeli security forces, who fired rubber-coated bullets and sound grenades towards some of them.
An AFP photographer said more than 100 Palestinians were seen hurling projectiles towards the Israeli security forces.
– ‘Violent riot’ –
Last year during the Muslim month of fasting, clashes that flared in Jerusalem, including between Israeli forces and Palestinians visiting Al-Aqsa, led to 11 days of devastating conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
The mosque compound is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, falling within Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Israeli police said that on Friday, dozens of masked men “marched into Al-Aqsa mosque at 04:00… chanting inciting messages and setting off fireworks” and collecting “stones, wooden planks and large objects, which were then used in a violent riot”.
“Despite these actions, police forces waited until the prayer was over,” a statement said.
“Crowds then began to hurl rocks in the direction of the Western Wall… and as the violence surged, police were forced to enter the grounds surrounding the Mosque,” it said, adding police “did not enter the mosque.”
The violence subsided later in the morning, AFP correspondents said.
“We have no interest in the Temple Mount becoming a centre of violence, which will harm both the Muslim worshippers there and the Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall,” Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said on Twitter.
Before Ramadan began this month, Israel and Jordan stepped up talks in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s violence.
Jordan serves as custodian of the mosque compound, while Israel controls access.
– Spiralling violence –
Israel has poured additional forces into the West Bank and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks in the Jewish state that have mostly killed civilians in the past three weeks.
A total of 14 people have been killed in the attacks since March 22, including a shooting spree in Bnei Brak, an Orthodox Jewish city in greater Tel Aviv, carried out by a Palestinian attacker from Jenin.
Twenty-one Palestinians have been killed in that time, including assailants who targeted Israelis, according to an AFP tally.
On Thursday Israel announced it would block crossings from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel from Friday afternoon through Saturday, the first two nights of the week-long Passover festival, and potentially keep the crossings closed for the rest of the holiday.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has given Israeli forces a free hand to “defeat terror” in the territory which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, warning that there would “not be limits” for the campaign.
Some of the attacks in Israel were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel linked to or inspired by the Islamic State group, others by Palestinians, and cheered by militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Three Palestinians died Thursday as Israeli forces launched fresh raids into the West Bank flashpoint district of Jenin, a week after the Bnei Brak attack.
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