In a series of incidents in and around Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday, more than 20 Palestinians and Israelis were injured, two days after significant rioting at the site.
The new skirmishes bring the total number of people injured since Friday to over 170, at a critical moment when the Jewish Passover celebration falls on the same day as the Muslim Ramadan fasting month.
They also follow deadly violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, which began in late March and has resulted in the deaths of 36 Palestinians.
Shortly before the arrival of Jewish tourists, “hundreds” of Palestinian activists inside the mosque grounds began gathering stone mounds, according to police.
Jews are allowed to visit but not to pray at the site, also known as Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam.
Israeli police said its forces had entered the compound in order to “remove” the demonstrators and “re-establish order”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 19 Palestinians were wounded, including at least five who were hospitalised. It said some had been wounded with rubber-coated steel bullets.
– ‘Free hand’ –
An AFP team near the entrance to the compound early Sunday morning saw Jewish worshippers leaving the site, barefoot for religious reasons, and protected by heavily armed police.
Outside the Old City, which lies in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Palestinian youths threw rocks at passing buses, resulting in seven people being treated for light wounds, Shaare Zedek hospital said.
Video released by the police showed two Israeli buses, their windows smashed as young men showered them with rocks.
The police said they had arrested 18 Palestinians, and Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said Israel would “act strongly against anyone who dares to use terrorism against Israeli citizens.”
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the security forces “continue to receive a free hand… for any action that will provide security to the citizens of Israel”, while stressing every effort should be made to allow members of all religions to worship in Jerusalem.
Senior Palestinian official Hussein Al Sheikh said Sunday that “Israel’s dangerous escalation in the Al-Aqsa compound … is a blatant attack on our holy places”, and called on the international community to intervene.
King Abdullah II of Jordan — the kingdom serves as custodian of holy places in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by most of the international community — on Sunday called on Israel to “stop all illegal and provocative measures” that drives “further aggravation”.
But the chief of the Hamas Islamist movement, which controls the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, had earlier warned Israel that “Al-Aqsa is ours and ours alone”.
“Our people have the right to access it and pray in it, and we will not bow down to (Israeli) repression and terror,” Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement.
The United Nations has called for calm, a year after clashes in and around the mosque compound escalated into an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
– Pope’s Easter peace prayer –
Weeks of mounting tensions saw two deadly attacks by Palestinians in or near the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv in late March and early April, alongside mass arrests by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
A total of 14 people have been killed in attacks against Israel since March 22.
According to an AFP tally, twenty-two Palestinians had been killed in the same time period, including assailants who attacked Israelis.
Police battled with Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound on Friday morning, including inside the Al-Aqsa mosque, sparking widespread condemnation from Muslim nations. During the fights, 150 individuals were injured.
On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis prayed for peace at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus died and was raised.
“May Israelis, Palestinians and all who dwell in the Holy City, together with the pilgrims, experience the beauty of peace, dwell in fraternity and enjoy free access to the Holy Places in mutual respect for the rights of each,” he said in his Easter address.
Despite the tensions, hundreds of Christians staged a lively parade in Jerusalem, with processions led by marching bands with deafening drums and wailing bagpipes.
