Israel yesterday braced for more protests after clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound wounded more than 200 people and as the US, EU and regional powers urged calm after days of escalating violence.
In the unrest following Muslim prayers on Friday, Israeli riot police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at Islam’s third-holiest site, which is also revered by Jews.
Israeli police said that 17 officers were wounded while the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 205 Palestinians were injured in the violence at al-Aqsa and across annexed east Jerusalem.
Photo: AFP
Video footage showed Israeli forces storming the mosque’s sprawling plaza and firing sound grenades inside the building, where throngs of worshipers, including women and children, were praying on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The clashes came after tensions soared in the past few weeks over Israeli restrictions on access to parts of the Old City during Ramadan and the threat of eviction hanging over four Palestinian families in east Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers.
A call for demonstrations yesterday in solidarity with Jerusalem Palestinians came from an advocacy group for Arab Israelis, who make up 20 percent of the country’s population, the High Follow up Committee for the Arabs in Israel.
The US — a staunch Israeli ally whose tone has however toughened under US President Joe Biden — said it was “extremely concerned” by the events and urged both sides to “avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace.”
“This includes evictions in east Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions and acts of terrorism,” the US Department of State said.
The EU called on the authorities “to act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions in Jerusalem,” saying: “Violence and incitement are unacceptable and the perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government “responsible” for the unrest and voiced “full support for our heroes in al-Aqsa.”
Jordan condemned Israel’s “barbaric attack” in Jerusalem, calling on the international community to stop the “escalation and violations” at al-Aqsa mosque.
Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Bahrain also blasted Israeli forces for the confrontation.
The unrest came as Iran and its allies around the world on Friday marked al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, an annual show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Iran called on the UN to condemn the Israeli police actions, saying that “this war crime once again proved to the world the criminal nature of the illegitimate Zionist regime.”
Al-Aqsa mosque compund has an explosive history. In 2000, the second Palestinian intifada broke out after then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon made a high-profile visit that Palestinians viewed as an intolerable provocation.
The latest confrontation followed a week of intensifying violence in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli police said that officers killed two Palestinians and wounded a third after the three men opened fire on the Salem base in the West Bank.
On Thursday, Israelis buried Yehuda Guetta, 19, who had been shot on Sunday at a bus stop in the northern West Bank.
Israeli security forces said they had arrested Montasser Shalabi, 44, near Ramallah, on suspicion of carrying out the attack.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft