Jerusalem March 16 (Xinhua) – Clashes erupted between Israeli police and Arab demonstrators on Tuesday in a disputed part of Jerusalem, and further heightened tensions that have already threatened to strangle the United States in its infancy peacemaking efforts.
During the violence that began in the early morning, hundreds of Arab youths threw stones at Israeli police and set tires and garbage bins on fire in several locations in East Jerusalem, and a section dominated by Arabs from the Holy City of the Palestinian claim to be the capital of a future state and the latter responded with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
As of noon today, and wounded about 50 demonstrators and detained more than 30, and a number of Israeli police officers were also wounded, according to a rough count by the local media. Israeli authorities have also reportedly stepped up security around the Arab towns in northern Israel and blocked in the local Arab bus from Jerusalem, in an attempt to forestall any escalation in the city of Fallujah.
At the same time, a general closure on the Israeli army on the West Bank since last Friday is still in force, and angry Palestinians on Tuesday and continued to clash with Israeli security forces at checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian territories, which led to a number of casualties.
The fighting came after weeks of rising tensions since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the last month and included two of the holy places in the West Bank to the list of Israeli heritage, prompting Palestinian accusations that the Jewish state is trying to tighten its grip on the occupied Palestinian and put facts on the ground to prevent Palestinians the establishment of a viable state.
Adding oil to the flame, and the Israeli Interior Ministry last week greenlighted a project to build 1,600 new housing units in the new Jewish neighborhood inEast Jerusalem , a day after U.S. envoy George Mitchell officially announced that Israel and the Palestinians agreed to start direct talks under the mediation ofthe United States . In a step irritating the Palestinian leadership is already doubtful, who has vowed not to enter the barley brokered bythe United States and Israel to cancel the project.
The latest developments that ignited the anger of the Palestinians, Israel on Monday opened to restore a historic synagogue in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City inEast Jerusalem , not far from the complex hills controversial that prides itself on not only in the most sacred place of prayer for the Jews, and the Western Wall, on its western side , but also the third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa Mosque, within the enclosure. This step raised the allegations that Jewish extremists were planning to destroy the complex and build a Jewish temple on the site, which Jews believe is the site of two temples destroyed in the Bible.
In the face of what they described as an Israeli attempt to “Judaize” the holy city, and the Palestinian factions and chanting the call to take action to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the Gaza Strip, thousands took to the streets chanting slogans against Israel and in honor of the Samarra mosque, also called the rulers of Islamic (Hamas) for a “day of rage” against the Israeli moves. In theWest Bank , Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is dominated by Fatah, and warned that Israel is dragging the whole world into a religious war.
In the confrontation cast a new layer of shade on Israel and the Palestinian peace process, which already was overshadowed by the recent Israeli expansion plan inEast Jerusalem . Despite U.S. pressure, Netanyahu administration so far suggests that it would not meet the intention of the Palestinian request, the cancellation of the project, which made enemies of the Middle East to a standstill just as the new United States mediation efforts, which were about to bear fruit.
In East Jerusalem, the plan also has struck Israel and the United States relations to crisis and clear, with the Israeli ambassador in Washington are talking about 35 years. Recent days have seen U.S. officials lined up to condemn the expansion project, which they described as “an insult tothe United States as it was in when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in the area of peace-making efforts.
Against this background, Mitchell postponed his visit to the region, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday. Reported / / Jerusalem Post / quoting the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv as saying that this change was due to “logistical reasons” and that he will arrive some time after the meeting of the Quartet ofthe United States and the United Nations, the European Union and Russia in Moscow on Thursday. After speculation that circulated envoy to postpone his trip, because Washington is waiting for the official Israeli response to theEast Jerusalem housing plan.
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