Israel counted the cost yesterday after hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces across east Jerusalem, amid the worst diplomatic spat in decades between Israel and its key ally the US.
As the worst rioting in years rocked Jerusalem on Tuesday and a senior Hamas leader called for a new Intifada, or uprising, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell delayed a visit to the region despite efforts to revive peace talks.
Israeli police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian protesters who hurled stones and set up barricades of dumpsters and burning tires in several neighborhoods.
PHOTO: EPA
Twenty-one injured Palestinians were hospitalized and dozens more were treated on the spot, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
One policeman suffered a pistol shot to the hand in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that the unknown gunman got away.
Four other policeman were briefly taken to hospital and another 10 treated on site after being hit by rocks.
Sixty Palestinians were arrested.
Also on Tuesday, stones were thrown at a bus in the largely Arab neighborhood of Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, said Rosenfeld, the first reports of unrest in other Israeli cities. The bus was damaged, but there were no injuries.
The clashes erupted across east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
As the rioting flared, Hamas deputy politburo chief Mussa Abu Marzuk called for another popular Palestinian uprising.
“The Intifada must enjoy the participation of all of Palestinian society,” he told Al-Jazeera television. “Every Palestinian should rise up … against the forces of the [Israeli] occupation.”
In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip thousands of people took to the streets, chanting: “With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice for you, Jerusalem.”
The Palestinians have launched two Intifadas against Israeli rule in the occupied territories, the first in 1987 and the second in 2000, but Hamas’ calls for a new uprising in recent years have been largely ignored.
Israeli police chief Dudi Cohen told reporters he did not see signs of a new uprising: “We are seeing signs of disorderly conduct, but that’s all.”
Palestinians were already seething over Israeli plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem.
Last week’s announcement of the project also incensed Washington, and Mitchell postponed a visit to the region that was to start on Tuesday.
That trip will not take place before the Middle East Quartet meets in Moscow today.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he would not travel to Moscow because of the tension in Jerusalem.
But even as Mitchell stayed away, the mutual anger appeared to ease slightly with warmer words being uttered on both sides.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington remained committed to reviving peace talks, telling reporters there was “too much at stake” for Palestinians and Israelis to abandon them.
US officials said Clinton would talk soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to ease the bitter diplomatic feud, maybe as early as Wednesday.
In a possible sign it wants to stop the row widening, the administration termed the dispute a disagreement between friends that would not shatter the “unbreakable bond” between the allies.
Netanyahu responded in a statement: “The State of Israel appreciates and cherishes the warm words from Secretary of State Clinton on the deep ties between the US and Israel and the US commitment to Israel’s security.”
Later yesterday, Israel reopened the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and lifted a days-old lockdown of the occupied West Bank, a day after Jerusalem saw the heaviest Palestinian rioting in years.
Rosenfeld said his forces remained on high alert for any unrest but that the mosque compound — the holiest site for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims — had been reopened.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS