Affrontements à Silwan (Jérusalem) – juin 2010
Affrontements à Silwan : 23 blessés
Ma’an News
jeudi 1er juillet 2010
Bethléem/Jérusalem – Ma’an – Au moins 20 palestiniens ont été blessés lors d’affrontements avec les forces israéliennes. Ces affrontements, commencés samedi soir [26 juin], ont continué toute la matinée du dimanche dans la zone occupée de Jérusalem-Est.
Selon les témoins, un Palestinien a été tué par un tir à balles réelles et deux autres ont été touchés par des grenades lacrymogènes. Ce conflit entre les gardes-frontières israéliens, les colons et les résidents s’est produit dans la région de Ar-Rajabi de Silwan.
Le Directeur du Centre d’Information Wad Hilwa Siyam Jawad a confirmé deux blessés coté palestinien et a déclaré que plusieurs personnes ont fait des malaises suite aux tirs de grenades lacrymogènes par les gardes-frontières. Selon des sources médicales palestiniennes, au moins 20 personnes ont eu besoin de soins médicaux pour inhalation de gaz lacrymogènes.
Les médecins ont ajouté qu’ils devaient traiter les patients sur le terrain étant donné que les forces israéliennes n’autorisaient pas les ambulances à quitter la zone des affrontements.
Selon les témoins, les gardes-frontières israéliennes ont délibérément endommagé des voitures et brisé les vitres de maisons palestiniennes. Selon les habitants, de jeunes Palestiniens ont jeté des cocktails Molotov vers l’édifice de Beit Al-Asal, récemment pris par les colons israéliens et dont les habitants auraient provoqué des affrontements.
Les médias israéliens rapportent que deux patrouilles militaires israéliennes ont subi des dommages à la suite de jets de pierres de la part de jeunes palestiniens. Le porte-parole de la police nationale israélienne a déclaré que deux officiers ont été légèrement blessés par des cocktails Molotov lancés par des Palestiniens. Les blessés ont été transportés vers un hôpital pour être soignés, ajoute-t-il.
Selon le site internet israélien d’information, Ynet, les soldats ont tiré des grenades à percussion et des grenades lacrymogènes alors que les Palestiniens disent que les soldats israéliens ont ouvert le feu en l’air.
Clashes Renew In East Jerusalem; 140 Injured
pnn.ps
28.06.10
Ghassan Bannoura – PNN – At least 140 Palestinian civilians were injured as clashes renewed with settlers in the village of Sliwan near Jerusalem’s Old City. Local sources said that the clashes erupted late on Sunday night when a group of settlers tried to take over a Palestinian owned house in the village.
“The settlers harassed my neighbor’s daughter, then went to the soldiers near the settlers home and we told them about it, they did nothing, later at 11:30 a settler walked down the street and started shooting randomly. Then four settlers along with soldiers stormed my family homes and tried to take it over we managed to drive them out with the help of other residents,” Abdullah Abu Nab, the owner of the house that settlers tried to take over in Sliwan told PNN
Silwan has 50,000 residents. While several hundred Israeli settlers living there, the vast majority of residents are Palestinians; many are refugees from the 1948 war which created Israel.
“My family struggle with the settlers started since 1967, we moved to Silwan after the ’48 war, in ’67 when Israeli occupied Jerusalem, the settlers started to claim that our house used to be synagogue, of course that is not true because we took the house from a Palestinian man and we renovated it and lived in it,” Abu Nab told PNN.
Last week Israel decided to push forward a plan introduced last year to demolish 22 homes in Al Bustan neighborhood of Silwan to make way for an archeological park and tourist center on the historical site of King David’s gardens. The plans need to pass several more rounds of approval before they will be implemented.
Defending the plan the Israeli Jerusalem municipality says it will help legalize many more Palestinians homes in Al Bustan. Israel says the homes that would be demolished were built without permits, which are rarely granted to Palestinians.
Responding to last week’s plan UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the demolitions would be illegal; and Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak said it lacked common sense. The U.S. State Department expressed concern, saying the move would undermine peace negotiations.
On Sunday the Israeli online Haaretz reported that Israel’s Interior Ministry Planning and Building Committee for Jerusalem is expected to release a plan, in the coming few weeks, to expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. Most expansions will take place on lands privately owned by Palestinians of East Jerusalem, the newspaper reported.
Observers say the ultimate goal of the settlement movement is to undermine Palestinian claims to east Jerusalem so Israel can argue for full control of the city in future peace negotiations.
Decenas de heridos en disturbios en un barrio palestino de Jerusalén
Efe
28-06-2010
Jerusalén, 28 jun (EFE).- Decenas de palestinos y policías israelíes resultaron heridos anoche en enfrentamientos en Silwán, barrio palestino de Jerusalén en el que ha sido aprobada la demolición de 22 hogares, informaron hoy fuentes médicas y testigos.
Cincuenta y dos palestinos fueron tratados en el lugar de los hechos por la inhalación de gases lacrimógenos o diversas contusiones, y al menos dos permanecen hospitalizados: una embarazada de 19 años y un joven que ha perdido un ojo, indicó la Media Luna Roja.
La Policía israelí, que rebaja la cifra de heridos palestinos a once, apunta que diez de sus agentes resultaron heridos en los choques, todos ellos de levedad.
« Anoche fue como una guerra en Silwán. Se tiraron piedras y la Policía israelí lanzó gases lacrimógenos y disparó balas recubiertas de caucho », explicó a Efe uno de los residentes, Yaqub Nache.
Unos doscientos palestinos participaron en los disturbios, según el portavoz de la Policía israelí, Micky Rosenfeld.
El motivo del inicio de los enfrentamientos parece ser el temor de los residentes a que colonos judíos tomasen otra casa en el barrio, tras escuchar disparos de advertencia de los guardas de seguridad privada que custodiaban el edificio símbolo de la colonización judía del barrio, « Beit Yonatan », conforme al relato de testigos y activistas israelíes de izquierda.
Jóvenes palestinos lanzaron piedras y cócteles molotov contra otro casa habitada por colonos, lo que degeneró en los mayores choques que ha vivido Silwán desde que hace justo una semana el Comité de Planificación y Construcción del Ayuntamiento de Jerusalén aprobara la demolición de 22 viviendas palestinas en la zona para levantar un parque arqueológico-turístico sobre el Rey David.
Los inquilinos de los inmuebles que serán destruidos en virtud del proyecto recibirán permisos para construir sus viviendas en la parte este del mismo barrio, aunque deberán correr con los gastos, según medios locales.
Silwán se encuentra en Jerusalén Este, territorio ocupado por Israel desde la Guerra de los Seis Días de 1967 y donde los palestinos aspiran a establecer la capital de su futuro Estado. EFE
Six police hurt in Jerusalem riots
Israel Today Staff
Monday, June 28, 2010
Palestinian Arabs hurled stones and firebombs during a riot in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Sunday lightly injuring six police officers and four private security guards stationed at Jewish-owned properties in the area.
Many of the rioters were lightly hurt by inhaling tear gas used by the police to disperse the mob.
Police officials characterized the incident as a significant upswing in local violence in Silwan, an Arab-dominated neighborhood just south of Jerusalem’s current Old City. Silwan is known to Jews as the City of David, and comprises the entirety of what was Jerusalem at the time of the biblical king.
The current tension in the neighborhood is due to a municipal plan to reclaim a state-owned green area that in recent years had been taken over local squatters. Despite the fact that the municipality has been generous in agreeing to retroactively approve two-thirds of the illegal houses, local Arab residents insist the government’s efforts to enforce the law is racist and inhumane.
Jerusalém:Distúrbios deixam mais de 50 palestinianos feridos
diariodigital.sapo.pt
segunda-feira, 28 de Junho de 2010
Pelo menos 52 palestinianos ficaram feridos na noite de domingo em confrontos com as forças de segurança em Silwan, bairro palestiniano de Jerusalém onde foi aprovada a demolição de 22 casas.
Segundo fontes médicas, os palestinianos foram tratados no local após inalação de gás lacrimogéneo e diversas contusões. Pelo menos dois permanecem hospitalizados: uma grávida de 19 anos e um jovem que perdeu um olho, indicou o Crescente Vermelho.
A polícia israelita, que baixa o número de feridos palestinos para 11, aponta que 10 dos seus agentes ficaram feridos nos confrontos.
Cerca de 200 palestinianos participaram nos distúrbios, segundo o porta-voz da polícia israelita, Micky Rosenfeld.
O rastilho dos confrontos parece ser o receio dos residentes de que colonos judeus tomem casas no bairro, após ouvirem disparos de aviso de seguranças particulares que custodiavam o prédio símbolo da colonização judaica do bairro, Beit Yonatan.
Heurts à Silwan
Radio-canada.ca
dimanche 27 juin 2010
Des affrontements ont opposé environ 200 manifestants palestiniens à la police israélienne dimanche à Silwan, un quartier à majorité arabe de Jérusalem-Est.
Les manifestants ont lancé des engins incendiaires et des pierres sur une maison habitée par des juifs, a déclaré Micky Rosenfeld, un porte-parole de la police locale.
Les vigiles d’une compagnie de sécurité privée ont tiré en l’air pour essayer de repousser les manifestants avant que la police soit appelée en renfort, a-t-il précisé. Six policiers ont été légèrement blessés dans les affrontements.
Le projet archéologique adopté le 22 juin par la commission de planification et de construction de la municipalité, baptisé « Jardin du roi », est bien entendu à l’origine de ces heurts.
Il prévoit la destruction de 22 maisons palestiniennes dans ce quartier où des familles de colons juifs se sont installées au milieu de 12 000 Palestiniens. Le mois dernier, les États-Unis s’étaient dit « préoccupés » par ce projet alors que les Palestiniens avaient crié à la provocation.
La communauté internationale ne reconnaît pas l’annexion par Israël du secteur oriental de Jérusalem, occupé depuis la guerre de juin 1967.
Israël a proclamé Jérusalem sa capitale « éternelle et unifiée », alors que les Palestiniens veulent faire de la partie orientale de la ville la capitale de leur futur État.
East Jerusalem fracas leads to heavy clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians
haaretz.com
28 06 2010
Six Border Police officers hurt by stone-throwers, Palestinian women suffer tear gas inhalation.
Palestinian protesters and Border Police officers engaged in heavy clashes on Sunday near a Jewish enclave in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, leaving dozens of Palestinians – including children and at least one pregnant woman – suffering from tear gas inhalation, Palestinian sources said. The police said six Border Police officers were hurt by stones thrown by the protesters.
It was not immediately clear if Israeli forces used live fire or assaulted Palestinian residents, as some Palestinians said. Left-wing activist Amiel Vardi said he had been told that three people had been wounded by Israeli fire.
The Jerusalem police said they were not aware of any Palestinian casualties.
The clashes began with a fracas between some 150 protesters and the settlers’ security guards, according to Palestinian sources, and spiraled into an exchange of lobbing stones on the part of the demonstrators.
The Israeli forces dispersed tear gas and fired stun grenades to disperse protesters, who were throwing firebombs at an apartment building inhabited by Jews.
The confrontation took place near Beit Yonatan, a seven-story home for several Jewish families that was built illegally in a predominantly Arab neighborhood. Several other hot spots are in the same area: Beit Hadvash, another home for Jewish families in Silwan, and a Yemenite synagogue from the pre-state era where four Arab families are living.
Protests in the neighborhood have been a regular event in recent months, but stepped up last week after Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat approved the demolition of 22 illegally built Arab homes in the neighborhood to make room for a tourist park.
Silwan violence reaches new heights
jpost.com
06/28/2010 04:31
Dozens hurt; sources say Barkat determined to go through with plan.
Capping a week of boiling tensions and an increase in violent attacks in the area, some 200 Arabs hurled stones and firebombs at security forces in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Sunday night, during large-scale rioting that left at least six Border Police officers and four private security personnel lightly wounded.
Dozens of Palestinian rioters were lightly hurt by inhaling tear gas. Some claimed police fired canisters into their homes.
Police and additional Border Police units were called to the scene and used stun grenades and pepper spray to disperse the crowds, as security guards from the Jewish-owned Beit Hadvash property inside the neighborhood fired warning shots in the air.
Residents of both Beit Hadvash and the adjacent Beit Yehonatan – two Jewish-owned properties in the heart of the predominately Palestinian neighborhood – accused police of letting the situation spin out of control, telling Israel Radio on Sunday night that rioters were using the roofs of their homes as vantage points from which to attack Jewish-owned buildings and vehicles.
Although sporadic rock-throwing and the odd firebombing have been the status quo in Silwan over recent years, Sunday night’s rioting marked a dramatic increase in what Jerusalem Police had described earlier Sunday as an “upswing” in violent incidents in the area, since an announcement last Monday of preliminary approval for a redevelopment plan involving 22 home demolitions in the El-Bustan, or Gan Hamelech, section of the neighborhood.
Sources in the municipality have stressed in recent days that Mayor Nir Barkat is determined to press ahead with the plan despite opposition from some residents, Palestinian officials and some in the international community.
On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli vehicle that accidentally entered the neighborhood was damaged when a group of young men hurled stones at it, although no injuries were reported.
Police spokesman confirms spike in violence
“There has been an upswing in violence in Silwan in recent days,” Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby confirmed in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post on Sunday afternoon, although he declined to comment on the reasons for the increase.
“We have forces operating in the area constantly, and they will continue to do so,” he added.
National Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld echoed Ben-Ruby’s comments, telling the Post that “a number of incidents” had taken place in Silwan over the past week, and that security forces on patrol in the neighborhood had “been attacked a number of times with stones, cinder blocks and firebombs.”
“Private security guards [who protect the Jewish homes in Silwan] have also had damage done to their vehicles, along with [police] vehicles,” Rosenfeld said. “More than 20 officers have been injured in Silwan over the past two months.”
Rosenfeld added that two Border Police officers had been lightly injured in Silwan on Saturday night, when cement blocks and at least one firebomb were hurled at their jeep.
The two officers were treated at the scene and did not require further medical care, he said.
Nonetheless, Rosenfeld differentiated between the violence currently unfolding in Silwan, and remarks made last week by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, who warned of potential “widespread disturbances” in and around Silwan that might accompany the implementation of demolition orders in the area.
‘Unrest may spread beyond Silwan’
Police were already preparing for such a scenario, Aharonovitch said, and security forces expected the unrest to spread “beyond the [Silwan] area” once it began. Yet according to Rosenfeld, the current level of violence is not what Aharonovitch was alluding to, although the scope of Sunday night’s rioting remained unclear as of press time.
“The scale [Aharonovitch] was talking about is obviously much larger,” Rosenfeld said earlier on Sunday. “The kinds of attacks we’re dealing with now in Silwan, we unfortunately deal with all the time.”
Last Monday’s approval of Barkat’s plan for Gan Hamelech by the Local Planning and Construction Committee continued to draw criticism both at home and abroad over the weekend.
The plan stipulates that the 88 homes inside the Gan Hamelech area, which were built without proper permits and are considered illegal by the city, will be divided into two groups and either retroactively legalized or demolished to make way for the restoration of park land – which the entire area was originally zoned for.
Officials at City Hall have maintained that the plan is aimed at improving the residents’ quality of life, and that a number of individual agreements have already been hammered out with Palestinian families living in Gan Hamelech.
But the announcement of the plan’s preliminary approval has drawn a chorus of criticism from the UN, the Palestinian Authority and even the State Department, whose spokesman, P.J. Crowley, said last week that the US was “concerned” about the plan and its implications for the peace negotiations.
On Friday afternoon, hundreds of left-wing activists descended on Silwan, rerouting a weekly protest that is normally held against home evictions in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to the Gan Hamelech area, in a show of solidarity with the neighborhood’s residents.
Chanting “Free Silwan!” and “There is no sanctity in an occupied city!,” the activists marched from the entrance to the Wadi Hilweh section of the neighborhood, where the City of David archeological park is located, down into the Gan Hamelech area.
No arrests were reported and the demonstration concluded peacefully.
Palestinians and Police Collide in East Jerusalem
nytimes.com
By DINA KRAFT
June 27, 2010
TEL AVIV — Palestinian protesters and Israeli police officers clashed late Sunday in an East Jerusalem neighborhood where the city plans to raze 22 Palestinian homes to make way for a tourist area, drawing attention to a disputed development on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
bout 200 to 250 Palestinian youths threw stones, bricks and Molotov cocktails near a house where nationalist Israeli Jews live in the neighborhood of Silwan, just below the Old City walls of Jerusalem, the police said.
Six police officers were wounded lightly by the stones, said Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman.
Tensions have been running high in Silwan since the Jerusalem municipality gave preliminary approval last week to plans for an archaeological park, shops and housing that authorities hope will become a major tourist attraction.
Palestinians object to any Jewish development in East Jerusalem, which they view as the capital of a future state. In addition, the plans include leveling 22 Palestinian homes, which the government says were built illegally on public land. The archaeological site, believed to contain the ruins of the City of David, a landmark of Jewish history, lies in the shadow of Al Aksa Mosque, which is revered by Muslims.
Israel, which captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war, considers the entire city its capital.
Israeli development in East Jerusalem has stoked tensions between the United States and Israel in the past few months. In March, during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a government announcement of more than 1,000 Jewish homes planned for East Jerusalem derailed indirect, American-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians.
The talks resumed in May, but the new construction projects could set off another round of recriminations. They are sure to be a topic of conversation when Mr. Netanyahu visits the White House next week.
In another East Jerusalem neighborhood, construction began Sunday on a different Jewish housing development, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported.
The building of 20 housing units for Jewish residents in the Shepherd Hotel compound of the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood was approved in its final form in March. The predominantly Palestinian neighborhood includes a shrine believed by Jews to be the tomb of Simeon the Just, a Jewish high priest from the days of the Second Temple.
Stephan Miller, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, said he could not confirm the Channel 10 report but said the developers had been granted the building permit.
“They are allowed to build, just as anyone in the city can build, regardless of nationality, creed or religion,” he said. “We will continue to issue permits to Jews, Christians and Muslims throughout the city of Jerusalem to ensure that Jerusalem can grow.”
Hamas Raids Gaza Bank
GAZA — Seven Hamas police officers raided the Palestine Islamic Bank in Gaza on Sunday, seizing $16,000 at gunpoint.
A bank employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the officers demanded all the cash in the account of an educational organization whose assets had been frozen by the Palestine Monetary Authority, the central bank of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. When the clerk refused, the officers seized the money by force.
The banker said that the group’s assets had been frozen under a plan to fight money laundering.
The police said in a statement that a Hamas court found the authority’s action illegal and issued a warrant for the seizure.
The raid was the second such action taken this year by Hamas, which controls Gaza. In March, Hamas raided the Bank of Palestine and seized hundreds of thousands of dollars from another account the authority had frozen.
Police brace for W. Bank violence
jpost.com
06/28/2010 04:33
Brigade-level Border Police drill precedes decision on freeze.
The Border Police will hold a massive drill in the West Bank this week aimed at preparing security forces for an escalation in Israeli and Palestinian violence.
The drill comes ahead of a government decision on whether to extend the freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank when the 10-month moratorium expires in September. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to be asked on his upcoming trip to the White House to extend the freeze by another year.
“If the freeze is extended there will almost definitely be an escalation in anti-Palestinian attacks by settlers who live in the West Bank,” a top defense official said.
The brigade-level exercise will be held on Thursday and will involve hundreds of Border Policemen who will hold drills focusing on civil disturbances and crowd control. One of the scenarios will include a large Jewish demonstration during which Palestinians launch a terror attack.
“The scenarios are of a wide range and basically focus on the type of work that the Border Police does in the West Bank,” another official said.
Meanwhile, in an effort to beef up the number of security forces in the West Bank, the Defense Ministry is moving forward with a plan to transfer Border Police units currently stationed along the border between Jordan and the West Bank.
Border Police units reassigned from Jordanian border to W. Bank
Currently, a number of Border Police units – including an elite undercover unit in the Arava region – are posted along the Jordanian border. Since the border is relatively quiet, the Defense Ministry has asked to reassign the units to other parts of the country, with a particular emphasis on the West Bank.
While the IDF Central Command has noted a lull in terrorism in recent years, there has been an increase in civil disturbances in the West Bank and in anti-security barrier demonstrations, such as the ones held weekly at Bil’in and Ni’lin.
The IDF is also concerned over a possible rise in settler violence, particularly as September approaches and the government comes under increased pressure from the US and Europe to extend the moratorium.
Police preparations follow recent ‘Price Tag’ incidents
In April, the Central Command established a special task force of Border Policemen to enforce law and order in the Nablus area.
The decision followed a spate of anti-Palestinian attacks, including an attack by settlers from Yitzhar, who violently attacked soldiers near the settlement on Independence Day.
Other recent incidents include two Palestinian vehicles that were set on fire near Kedumim and spray-painted with the words “Price Tag,” indicating that the rampage was the work of settlers angry over the government’s plan to curb settlement construction. A mosque in the Palestinian town of Hawara, south of Nablus, was also defiled after masked men spray-painted a Star of David and the word Mohammed – in Hebrew – on the wall of a mosque.
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