JERUSALEM, Feb 14 (NNN-WAFA) – Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers broke out in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood early yesterday, after an Israeli lawmaker reopened his office in the neighbourhood.
Israeli police said, six Palestinians had been arrested amid the clashes. The police said, the “riots,” injured “several” people, who needed hospital care.
The police “dispersed the ‘rioters’ after they did not comply with the police call to stop.”
The clashes were sparked by a statement by Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) party, announcing he will open “a bureau” in the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, the police arrested a driver from East Jerusalem, after he hit a 20-year-old Jewish man in the neighbourhood. According to the state-owned Kan Bet Radio, Jewish rioters claimed that, the incident was a car-ramming attack, but the suspect maintained he lost control of his vehicle, after being sprayed with pepper spray by the Jewish rioters.
Israel’s Magen David Adom said in a statement, the injured need hospital care. Another Jewish man in his twenties was injured by a rock and was taken to a hospital, it said.
In the morning, Ben Gvir arrived at Sheikh Jarrah to open “the bureau” and clashes erupted. At least two Palestinians were arrested, the police said.
Gvir said, he intends to arrive at the office every day “to restore security to (Jewish) residents.”
Photos on social media showed Ben Gvir sitting near a desk in an improvised bureau outdoors. The office is located outside the home of the Yeshoviev family, a Jewish family settler home.
Sheikh Jarrah is located in East Jerusalem, a territory captured by the Israeli regime, in the 1967 war.– NNN-WAFA
