Violence broke out Thursday night near the Kalandia checkpoint, located in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Ramallah, as residents of the West Bank village clashed with police in protests against the IDF's operation in the Gaza Strip.
Some 10,000 Palestinians protested near the checkpoint, throwing rocks, firebombs and fireworks at Israeli security forces, and setting tires ablaze. The IDF forces and Border Police were using crowd dispersal means on the masses.
According to the Palestinian reports, two demonstrators were killed by Israeli security forces and dozens wounded. Thirteen Israeli police officers were lightly injured.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office did not confirm the Palestinian casualties. The military was checking reports of live fire targeting Israeli forces at the checkpoint.
The protest erupted after allies of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement marched from the West Bank city of Ramallah to the edges of Jerusalem in protest against Israel's 17-day-old campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Police so far arrested 39 Arab suspects during the protests.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel Police arrested nine suspects in east Jerusalem, for disrupting the peace and attacking police officers, near the Old City. The police said it used crowd dispersal methods to restore order.
At the same time, near the Temple Mount, dozens of east Jerusalem residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police forces. The police said said they have arrested 10 suspects, and that two police officers were lightly injured during the clash.
As police prepared for Friday prayers, they planed to heighten security in the Old City and throughout Jerusalem, as Operation Protective Edge enters its third week, fueling already heightened tensions between Arabs and Jews in the capital.
Some 10,000 Palestinians protested near the checkpoint, throwing rocks, firebombs and fireworks at Israeli security forces, and setting tires ablaze. The IDF forces and Border Police were using crowd dispersal means on the masses.
According to the Palestinian reports, two demonstrators were killed by Israeli security forces and dozens wounded. Thirteen Israeli police officers were lightly injured.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office did not confirm the Palestinian casualties. The military was checking reports of live fire targeting Israeli forces at the checkpoint.
The protest erupted after allies of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement marched from the West Bank city of Ramallah to the edges of Jerusalem in protest against Israel's 17-day-old campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Police so far arrested 39 Arab suspects during the protests.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel Police arrested nine suspects in east Jerusalem, for disrupting the peace and attacking police officers, near the Old City. The police said it used crowd dispersal methods to restore order.
At the same time, near the Temple Mount, dozens of east Jerusalem residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police forces. The police said said they have arrested 10 suspects, and that two police officers were lightly injured during the clash.
As police prepared for Friday prayers, they planed to heighten security in the Old City and throughout Jerusalem, as Operation Protective Edge enters its third week, fueling already heightened tensions between Arabs and Jews in the capital.
The Times of Israel is liveblogging events as they unfold through Friday, the 18th day of Operation Protective Edge. With the Gaza death toll said to pass 700, Israeli military sources said several hundred Hamas gunmen had been killed, and 150 surrendered. Fifteen people were reported killed in shelling at a UN school. The IDF death toll is 32. IDF-Hamas fighting in Gaza remains intensive, and rockets are still being fired into Israel, but foreign airlines are returning to Ben-Gurion airport after an FAA ban was lifted. Late Thursday saw major riots in the Jerusalem area. (Thursday’s liveblog is here.)
Police arrest 39 Palestinians in clashes in Old City
Police say they arrested 39 Palestinians following violent clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City tonight.
Thirteen police officers were lightly wounded in the clashes.
Palestinian officials call for ‘Day of Rage’ Friday
Palestinian Authority officials are calling for a “Day of Rage” across the West Bank later today, in protest of the violent clashes tonight between Palestinians and police at the Qalandia checkpoint, and in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel Radio’s Gal Berger reports that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are calling for marches in Ramallah and Hebron, respectively.
Qalandia protest ‘largest since Second Intifada’
Just to recap a post from a few minutes ago at the end of Thursday’s liveblog: Israeli journalists report that the violent protest at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah is one of the largest seen in over a decade.
“Qalandia, as not seen since the days of the [Second] Intifada,” writes Israel Radio’s Palestinian Affairs correspondent Gal Berger.
“The scenes seen tonight at the Qalandia checkpoint remind [me] of the Intifada. Don’t remember in recent years thousands [of Palestinians] confronting the IDF. Tomorrow, a dramatic day in the West Bank and east Jerusalem,” writes Channel 1′s West Bank reporter.
The “Zionist regime” must be destroyed, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. This should be achieved “by a referendum of the people living there,” but until that happens, there should be “total armed resistance” against it. That resistance by the Palestinians should be helped by the provision of arms, he added, condemning Israel’s recent “savagery.”
Khamenei was speaking Wednesday night and his speech was reported both by Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency and the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“Allah willing,” the day of destruction would come soon, he said. But “so long as this false regime is on its feet – what is the solution?” he asked. “The solution is total armed resistance against this regime… Therefore, it is my belief that the West Bank should be armed just like Gaza. Anyone who cares about the fate of Palestine, and who is capable of doing something, should provide arms to the people (of the West Bank) too,” said Khamenei.
'Israel Must Be Destroyed'
After giving Iran $7 billion for agreeing to negotiate about its nuclear program, you would think the government would be grateful and refrain from using their usual eliminationist rhetoric regarding Israel.
Alas, gratitude apparently only goes so far.
Fars News Agency, a media outlet run by the Iranian state, reported today that Khamenei addressed the conflict in Gaza in a meeting with Iranian college students.
“These crimes which are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, which the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared to his audience. “However, until that time, the expansion of the armed resistance of the Palestinians of the West Bank is the only way to confront this wild regime.”
Khamenei then criticized America, claiming its defense of Israel is “shameful,” and suggested that its support affects Iran’s behavior towards America.
“The anti-American and anti-West view in Iran is a logical view based on experience and a righteous calculation,” he said.
He then emphasized, “As said by Imam Khomeini [the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran] Israel must be destroyed…However, until that time with the help of God for this cruel and murderous regime to be destroyed, strong confrontation with steadfast armed resistance is the only solution against this destructive regime.”
“We believe that the West Bank needs to be armed just like Gaza and those interested in the future of Palestine must become active in this field [guerrilla warfare] so that the suffering of the Palestinian people through their strength and their weakness due to the Zionist regime is reduced,” he said.
A recent report suggests that the Islamic Republic has yet to address the concerns of the International Atomic Agency on work developing detonators used as an explosive device for atomic bombs. The regime, which originally denied such work, has stated the experiment as for civilian purposes.
Does this sound like a regime ready to negotiate an end to its weapons program?
The question, "Are they crazy enough to use the bomb?" is moot. The fact that the question can be asked at all is what will drive the debate in Israel over whether they should take out Iran's nuclear infrastructure following the inevitable collapse of the negotiations.
In a recent address, Sergei Glazyev, the Economic Advisor to Russian President Putin warned that the US has begun another World War with their actions in the Ukraine, and stated that in order to solve the Ukraine conflict, Russia must defeat the heart or Nazism- the US.
“Kiev is clearly conducting a policy of genocide to eliminate the whole population of Donbass… They’re destroying hospitals, kindergartens, schools. The fate they’re preparing for the people of Donbass is serfdom… It is obvious that the United States is fully controlling the Kiev Nazis, Poroshenko personally, and the government, and is pushing them to pursue this war against Donbass to the very end… THIS IS A WAR BY THE UNITED STATES AGAINST US… So we have to understand that the key to resolving the catastrophe of Ukraine is to be found in Washington. That’s where Nazism has to be defeated..”
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