As well as barricading the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also authorised the revocation of residency rights of Palestinians deemed guilty of "terrorism," along with bolstering the demolition of homes of people who carry out attacks.
Seven Israelis and 30 Palestinians, including children and attackers, have died in two weeks of violence including stabbings, shootings, car rammings and security crackdowns that have stirred memories of past Palestinian uprisings.
Despite the Israeli crackdown, Wednesday marked yet another day of violence as Israeli police reported they had “neutralised” an attacker who had tried to stab a security guard at an entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. Police did not specify whether the knife-wielding suspect had been wounded or killed.
Later in the day, a 70-year-old woman was moderately wounded after a man stabbed her outside Jerusalem’s main bus station. Police said they had shot the attacker to death.
The causes of the turmoil are multiple, but Palestinians are angry about what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, an area that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
There is also deep-seated frustration with the failure of years of peace efforts to deliver meaningful change, with the Palestinians no closer to statehood and no end to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Much of the violence since the start of October has been carried out by residents of East Jerusalem, the predominantly Arab side of the city. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as an integral part of the country, so the threat to seal off neighbourhoods there is a dramatic escalation in policing.
Israeli military affairs commentators questioned the value of the threatened lock-down, saying those determined to carry out attacks would still find ways to do so, while the strong-arm tactic could fuel more anger.
'On precipice'
Human Rights Watch said the measure - which has not yet been imposed but could be carried out if the wave of violence continues - was "a recipe for harassment and abuse".
"Locking down East Jerusalem neighbourhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern," it said in a statement.
Israel's minister for Jerusalem affairs, Zeev Elkin, told Israel Radio the measure was for security and did not herald a political division of the city.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state, together with Gaza and the West Bank. Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital.
The cabinet also approved an expansion of the national police, extra guards on public transport and the deployment of army units in "sensitive areas" along the steel and concrete barrier that separates the West Bank.
The cabinet agreed that as well as the punitive measure of demolishing attackers' homes, it would forbid new construction at those sites. Such tactics have been threatened in the past but court challenges have frequently held up the process.
On Tuesday, Palestinian men armed with knives and a gun killed three people and wounded several others in a string of attacks in Jerusalem and near Tel Aviv after a "Day of Rage" declared by Palestinian groups.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he would travel to the region to try and ease tensions.
"I will go there soon, at some point appropriately, and try to work to reengage and see if we can't move that away from this precipice," Kerry said.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AP)
15/10/15
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Kerry to travel to Mideast amid mounting tension between Israel, Palestinians
Jérusalem: Israël installe des checkpoints autour des quartiers palestiniens....
- Israel authorizes sealing off parts of Jerusalem...
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Palestinians have torched a Jewish holy site in the West Bank city of Nablus, amid soaring tensions with Israel...
ReplyDeleteRioters set fire to a tomb which Jews revere as that of the biblical figure Joseph. Palestinian security forces managed to put out the blaze.
It came hours after Israel's PM called on the Palestinian leadership to stop a wave of attacks.
There have been near-daily stabbings by Palestinians of Israelis this month, as violence between the two sides spirals.
Israel's military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner tweeted that attack on Joseph's Tomb was "a blatant violation of the basic value of freedom of worship".
He said Israeli security forces would "bring perpetrators to justice and restore the site".
This is not the first time the tomb has come under attack. Palestinians tried to set fire to it again last year and virtually destroyed the site in 2000.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over the past fortnight have been fuelled by clashes in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and across the Gaza border, as well as the wave of stabbings.
Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded.
At least 30 Palestinians, including several of the attackers, have been killed in recent violence.....BBC
Palestinians set fire to a Jewish shrine in the West Bank on Friday as the Islamist group Hamas called for a day of rage against Israel, and two weeks of turmoil in the region showed little signs of abating...
ReplyDeleteIsrael's military said about 100 people rushed the tomb of the biblical patriarch Joseph, which is located in the Palestinian city of Nablus. They were pushed back by Palestinian security forces who arrived on site, but not before setting parts of it aflame.
"We view this incident with gravity and strongly condemn any attack on holy sites. We will find and arrest those who set the fire," the military said in a statement.
The unrest that has engulfed Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, the most serious in years, has claimed the lives of 32 Palestinians and seven Israelis......REUTERS.......http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com