Israeli police rounded up today at least one dozen Palestinian youths from various neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem following three weeks of tense nights and confrontations between police and youths at different locations of the occupied holy city.
According to sources and initial reports, police detained 13 young Palestinians following raids at their family homes in Jerusalem’s old city, as well as Silwan, Ras al-Amoud, Isawiyya, and al-Tur neighborhoods.
The arrests came after Palestinian youths in the city first confronted police attempts to prevent them from hanging around in the evening at Damascus Gate, one of the more popular gates of the old city of Jerusalem, as part of the nightly celebration of the holy fast month of Ramadan.
Police had set up barricades to prevent the youths from sitting on the stone seats in the plaza until the youths decided to confront this police and forced the removal of the barricades following nights of heated confrontation and with their persistence to hang around Damascus Gate despite all odds.
Then there came the attempts to force out Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after an Israeli court ruled that these homes belong to Jewish settlers, a decision strongly contested by the families and the entire neighborhood and city.
Palestinians stood in solidarity with the Sheikh Jarrah residents and on different nights clashed with the police and Jewish settlers who attacked the sit-ins and other solidarity acts causing several injuries and arrests.
Last night also police attacked Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city following the evening and night prayers causing at least 200 injuries, many suffered loss of eye or broken bones.
As tension in the occupied city is expected to continue in the coming nights, more arrests are also expected.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA