Going from bad to worse – in and around East Jerusalem
What happens when tear gas interacts with flames from rubber tires burning in the streets?
We may find out, today.
UPDATE: Reports are coming in from both Palestinian and Israeli sources of [Israeli] gunfire at Qalandia checkpoint — at least four Palestinians are reported wounded and in “moderate” condition.
Palestinian Television has had live coverage, and Al-Jazeera Television (Arabic) is showing scenes on a split screen, while interviewing various Palestinian officials by audio link — some of them (like Nayef Hawatmeh in Damascus + Hamas’ Musa Abu Marzouk) are calling openly for a “third” intifada. The voices of those being interviewed are urgent, and disturbing to hear — most speaking phrases that could be heard at political rallys.
Seeing the Israeli police and military response to demonstrations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank over recent months, it seemed to me that, in their view, the first intifada never ended…
Thousands are in the streets in Gaza with protest banners… Hamas apparently called for a “Day of Rage” today. But what is happening in Palestinian areas outside of Gaza is not being directed or motivated by Hamas…
In and around East Jerusalem, big metal garbage dumpsters have been pulled out to block the street, and large stones and burning trash also block the roads.
Israeli police on horseback — sturdy and beautiful animals, white brown and black — chase Palestinian demonstrators.
Border Police in olive green uniform detain individual demonstrators: here, one Border Policeman grabs the shoulder of the burgundy-red sweater worn by a Palestinian man, and walks him (as if he were a naughty student) toward a waiting vehicle. There, two younger Border Policemen are a bit rougher with a younger Palestinian adolescent, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. They are tight by his sides, squeezing him. He is making little jumps, as if he is being restrained by his legs, while the police keep pulling the hood forward over his head to obscure his face, and his vision. A few minutes later, somewhere else, five young Palestinians, at least one of them clearly a child, whose wrists are tied by clear plastic handcuffs, are “frog-marched” up a hill, each escorted by one Israeli in olive green and one Israeli in navy blue …
Israeli soldiers/Border Police in olive green uniform with German Shepherd dogs on leashes stand by as two young Palestinians are forced on the ground, face down, and their arms are jerked up and back behind them, apparently in preparation for the plastic handcuffs that are often painfully tight. As the boys react, the dog strains at the leash, barking and maybe biting (it is hard to see from the camera angle…)
The Al-Jazeera images keep coming, as do the messages by SMS:
JMCC: High alert today in Jerusalem
JMCC: “[Israeli] Police stop a bus full of Muslim passengers in Galilee travelling from Majdal Krum to Jerusalem and make them turn around”
MAAN: “Confrontations erupt in several East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Israeli forces raid school in Tekoa, near Bethlehem”
JMCC: “Clashes underway in Qalandia + Shuafat camp, Wadi Jou, Ras al-Amoud, and Al-Aqsa”.
SMS-Israel: “rock-throwing incidents reported all over East Jerusalem and PA areas”.
Al-Jazeera interviews Israeli National Police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld, apparently in Eizariyya (?) who mentions Silwan as well.
By 11:00 in the morning, 15 Palestinians were reported arrested, and at least as many injured. A journalist in central Jerusalem says that there is continuous noise of helicopters flying overhead, and ambulance sirens in the street.
After hints and hesitation from Washington last night, the U.S. has decided that Special Envoy George Mitchell would not be returning to Israel today, as had been planned last week. [He would have been here for St. Patrick's Day, tomorrow, 17 March -- a date that should not be underestimated].
The spokesperson for Israeli State President Shimon Peres sent out by email a note this morning saying that “The U.S. Embassy in Israel contacted the Office of the President this morning to notify it that the United States Special Envoy for the Middle East, Mr. George Mitchell, will not arrive to Israel today. Thus, the planned meeting today at 5:30 pm between President Peres and Special Envoy Mitchell will not occur”.
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
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