Clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police left a hundred injured on the Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Friday, April 15. “One hundred and seventeen wounded were transferred” in hospitals in Jerusalem and “tens” others were treated at the site, a rescue official said, amid fears of a conflagration in the occupied Palestinian territories
The Palestinian Red Crescent had first reported seven wounded, then about twenty, in these morning clashes in the Old City of East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied since 1967 by Israel, before quickly reviewing this assessment at the rise. For its part, the Israeli police indicated that at least three policemen had been injured in its ranks.
Witnesses reported Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli security forces and firing rubber bullets at some Palestinian demonstrators. Around 4 a.m., “dozens of young masked rioters”some displaying themselves with flags of the armed Islamist movement Hamas, “started a procession” on the Esplanade of the Mosques, and threw stones in the direction of the adjacent Wailing Wall, the most important place of prayer in Jewish tradition, announced the Israeli police saying they had intervened to “restore order”.
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These clashes on the Esplanade of the Mosques are the first this year since the beginning of Ramadan, a period of large gatherings for Muslims on this sacred place, which also sometimes serves as a sounding board for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And this weekend, the authorities feared slippages in the holy city with the start of Christian Easter and Jewish Passover celebrations with prayers at the Wailing Wall, a rare coincidence of calendars between the three major monotheistic religions.
During Ramadan in 2021, the holy month of Muslims, nocturnal demonstrations in Jerusalem and clashes even on the esplanade had turned into 11 days of war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, and Israel .
This violence in the heart of Jerusalem comes after a series of attacks in Israel and Israeli operations in the West Bank, another territory occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state. Since March 22, Israel has been hit by four attacks, the first two carried out by Israeli Arabs linked to the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) and the last two by Palestinians from the Jenin sector in the West Bank. These attacks killed fourteen people. In addition, 21 Palestinians, including assailants, have been killed in violence since that date, according to an AFP tally.
Third holiest site in Islam, the Esplanade of the Mosques – also called Temple Mount by the Jews – is located in the Old City in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector occupied since 1967 by Israel which remains the scene of clashes between police Israelis and Palestinian protesters. Jordan administers the Esplanade of the Mosques, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located, but access to this place is controlled by Israel.