New clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police injured nineteen on Sunday, April 17, in and near the esplanade of the Jerusalem Mosques, which had been the scene of violent clashes on Friday. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, some of the injured were hit by rubber bullets.
The esplanade of the Mosques – also called Temple Mount by the Jews – is located in the Old City in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied since 1967 by Israel. Early Sunday, “hundreds” of Palestinian demonstrators began collecting “stones” on the esplanade shortly before religious Jews arrived at the spot, considered Judaism’s holiest and Islam’s third holiest site, Israel Police said. The Israeli security forces entered the esplanade of the Mosques in order to “to dislodge” these demonstrators and ” restore order “according to the police.
Since the capture in 1967 and then the annexation by Israel of East Jerusalem – not recognized by the international community – the Jews have been authorized to access the esplanade at certain times, but not to pray there. The prayer normally takes place at the Wailing Wall, below, even if for years religious Jews have been praying in secret on the esplanade.
These incidents come as Sunday in the Old City of Jerusalem, the crossroads of the three monotheistic religions, Christian festivities for Easter, prayers for Passover, Passover, and for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Israeli civilians targeted
Meanwhile, near the Old City, young Palestinians threw stones at buses carrying Israeli civilians, including minors, according to Israeli police. Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem reported seven minor injuries from the stone-throwing, while Israeli police reported eighteen arrests.
“Al-Aqsa [mosquée présente sur l’esplanade] is ours, and the Jews have absolutely no right to it.”said in a press release Ismaïl Haniyeh, head of the political wing of Hamas, the Palestinian armed Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, territory under Israeli blockade.
In Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, mosques called on worshipers to come to the esplanade, according to journalists from Agence France-Presse, while in the Gaza Strip more than a dozen rockets were fired Sunday morning towards the Mediterranean Sea, according to media close to Hamas.
Carte blanche to the security forces
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reiterated that “the security forces had carte blanche to (…) ensuring the safety of Israeli citizens”. “We are trying to calm the situation on the ground while taking determined action against the causes of the violence”added Mr. Bennett.
Friday morning, after weeks of tension linked to attacks by two Palestinians in the Tel Aviv area and Israeli operations to “counter-terrorism” in the occupied West Bank, clashes erupted between Israeli police and demonstrators on the Esplanade des Mosques, where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are located. Israeli forces notably entered the Al-Aqsa mosque during these clashes in which more than 150 Palestinians were injured, an intervention which had drawn strong condemnation from Muslim countries.
Jordan, which administers the esplanade of the Mosques, blamed Israel for this new escalation of violence. King Abdullah II called on the Jewish state to “end illegal and provocative measures that lead to further escalation” in violence.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a political rival of the Islamists of Hamas, to congratulate him on his ” calm “ and sound “good judgement” in this case, he said on his Twitter account. The UN had already called for a ” de-escalation “ in order to prevent tensions in Jerusalem from turning, as last year in May, into a war between Hamas and Israel.
In the Vatican, during the traditional blessing Urbi and orbi for Easter, Pope Francis pleaded on Sunday for access “free” at the holy places in Jerusalem: “May Israelis, Palestinians and all inhabitants of the Holy City, together with the pilgrims, experience the beauty of peace. »