Details - Jerusalemites rush to protect the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood…dozens of injuries and arrests
On Sunday, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, Jerusalemites rose up to protect the neighborhood from settlers’ attacks on its residents and property, and refused the actions of an extremist Knesset member, Itamar Ben Gavir’s, after moving his office to the center of the neighborhood, under the protection of the occupation forces.
At 10:30 in the morning, Bin Gavir stormed the "western part of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood", headed to the outpost, then to a "table" in the middle of the land of the Salem family - which is threatened with eviction -, announcing the start of his parliamentary activities from the neighborhood, in light of what he described “the police failure to protect the settlers in the neighborhood, with the frequent burning of their vehicles, and recently burning a house”, as he said.
In the tent of Ben Gavir, the extremist Baruch Marzel was also present, as were the deputy mayor, Arieh King, and dozens of settlers who performd prayers and dances and hung banners and flags.
During that, the settlers attacked Jerusalemites and members of the Salem family, by beating them with chairs and using their hands, as well as pepper gas. The forces stormed the area and forced the Salem family into their homes, then arrested their son Khalil, although he suffered from suffocation from pepper gas.
Over the course of hours, the scene of the attack on members of the Salem family and the Jerusalemites in the neighborhood was repeated, then the forces closed the street leading to the house of the Salem family - where the Ben Gavir office is located - and erected iron berms in the place, and closed the main street leading to Street No. 1, while preventing Jerusalemites from reaching the western part of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. They provided protection for the settlers by walking around the neighborhood and setting up dancing and singing circles.
The occupation forces attacked Jerusalemites who tried to raise the Palestinian flag, including members of the Sa`ou family who "raised the flag on the steps of their house. They also assaulted the activist Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, and another young man, and in return allowed the settlers to raise and hang the Israeli flags in the neighborhood.
The settlers deliberately turned on the loudspeakers to distort the sound of the Noble Qur’an in the neighborhood.
To disperse the youths and prevent the people from sitting in front of their homes, the forces sprayed wastewater, threw sound bombs and rubber bullets, and cavalry teams stormed the streets.
Al-Yamam special forces also stormed a house in the neighborhood, under the pretext of "throwing firecrackers from inside it."
Arrests
The occupation forces carried out separate arrests from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The lawyer of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Firas Al-Jabrini, explained that the forces arrested: Ahmed Omran Okkeh, Abdullah Dabash, Muhammad Atef Marzouk, Ahed Shweiki, Qusai Ja’afra, Saif Halasa, Arafat Burqan, and Malik Al-Tawil.
The center also learned from local sources that the forces arrested 3 other young men and referred them for interrogation.
Injuries
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that its crews dealt with 31 injuries in the neighborhood, including 6 injuries due to assault, 4 injuries to the head, a stun grenade injury to the head, bruising to the body, 4 by rubber bullets, a child injured by a stun grenade, and 3 pepper gas injuries.
The Red Crescent added that 6 injuries were transferred to hospital for treatment.
Al-Hilal hospital explained that among the injuries were 3 paramedics, a journalist, and 2 foreign solidarity activists.
