Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police left 42 injured on Friday on the Esplanade of the Mosques, a focus of tension in the heart of Jerusalem, after more than a month of violence in the Occupied Territory and in Israel.

On Friday morning, “42 wounded were registered in clashes with occupying forces” on the Esplanade of the Mosques, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced, which had previously provided the first balance of 12 wounded.

Of the 42 injured, 22 were taken to a hospital in Jerusalem, although “none are in serious condition,” the entity said.

Stones and tear gas

Israeli police indicated their agents intervened because “troublemakers” stones and fireworks were thrown at the Wailing Wall, the most important place of prayer of the Jews also located in that prison.

The statement indicated that police used “riot dispersal means” in their intervention.

According to witnesses, officers opened fire tear gas and rubber bullets.

A certain calm was fixed later, when a crowd of worshipers gathered to pray this last Friday of Ramadan, the month of Muslim fasting that will end early next week.

Some carried Palestinian flags and the Islamist movement Hamas.

holy place

In recent days, tension has been high over the Mosque Esplanade, which is considered the third holiest place for Muslims and the holiest for Jews under its “Temple Mount” name.

Over the past two weeks, about 300 Palestinians were injured in clashes at this location in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Esplanade of the Mosques is located in the eastern part of Jerusalem, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, and was later merged. This sanctuary is administered by Jordan but its entry is controlled by the Jewish State.

These disturbances occur in the context of increase after four attacks since the end of March in Israel, leaving 14 dead, including an Arab-Israeli policeman and two Ukrainians.

Two of the attacks were carried out in Tel-Aviv by Palestinians from the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

Since then, a total of 26 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have been killed (including the perpetrators of the attacks) in clashes with Israeli forces, which have conducted operations in the occupied West Bank.

These clashes took place when “Al-Quds Day” (Jerusalem in Arabic) was celebrated this Friday, initiated by Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

displays

Thousands of people showed up to Iran, an enemy of the Hebrew state, in support of the Palestinians.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran supports and supports the Palestinian resistance … and we condemn the deceptive move to normalize relations (with Israel),” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on television.

On Thursday night, leaders of the Palestinian movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, near Iran, staged a demonstration at a stadium in Gaza to mark this day and urged to “defend” Jerusalem and the Esplanade of the Mosques .

General Hosein Salami, leader of the Guardians of the Revolution, an Iranian ideological army, participated in the event via videoconference and said that “the State of Israel will be defeated.”

The presence on the Esplanade of the Mosques during Ramadan of a large number of Jews – who were allowed to visit the area under certain conditions and at certain times, but without praying – and the deployment of security forces in the area this sacred located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is described as a “provocation” of Palestinians and various countries in the region.

“Jerusalem will remain in the midst of conflict with the enemy,” Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, said on Friday. In addition, they explained that “enemy projects of Judaization, blasphemy and division” would surely fail.

But Israel will “maintain” the status quo of the Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem, confirmed on Sunday Israel’s head of diplomacy Yair Lapid, who confirmed that recent police interventions on the esplanade were “justified”.

Source: AFP

CB