OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM —
Israeli forces clashed with Palestinians in the flashpoint
East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday, as a visit by a
controversial far-right Israeli lawmaker inflamed tensions.
اضافة اعلان
Israeli
occupation forces said two people were arrested as they tried to contain
"a violent riot", in the area of annexed
East Jerusalem that has
emerged as a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation of the
city.
Scuffles
broke out as
Itamar Ben Gvir of the far-right Religious Zionism alliance opened
a parliamentary office in Sheikh Jarrah, in what he described as an effort to
show support for its Jewish residents.
More
than 200,000 Jewish settlers live in East Jerusalem, in communities that are
illegal under international law.
Efforts
by settler groups to expand the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, which
Palestinians claim as their future capital, have further fueled hostilities.
Ben
Gvir, a Jewish nationalist with a long history of incendiary comments about
Palestinians, accused police of failing to react to alleged arson attacks on a
settler home in Sheikh Jarrah.
The
Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, condemned Ben
Gvir's visit as a "provocative and escalating move that threatens to
ignite ... violence that will be difficult to control."
Tensions
that erupted in Sheikh Jarrah last year — as several Palestinian families faced
eviction by settler groups — in part sparked the Israeli war on Gaza in May.
Hamas
warned there would "consequences" over Israel's repeated attacks on
Sheikh Jarrah.
Palestinians
across East Jerusalem accuse Israeli occupation forces of using heavy-handed
tactics to quell protests.
Six
people were arrested in the neighborhood during unrest late Saturday.
Israel
captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed in in a
move not recognized by most of the international community.
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