Anger Over Project Turns Violent Palestinians Clash With Israeli Soldiers In Protest Against Housing
Clouds of tear gas filled Bethlehem’s streets Thursday after Palestinian anger over Israel’s decision to build Jewish homes in disputed east Jerusalem erupted into clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Hundreds of protesters threw stones at the soldiers, who fired back tear gas, rubber bullets and a barrage of water cannon spray.
Stone-throwing clashes also broke out between Palestinian youths and soldiers in the village of Beit Omar, on the main road between Jerusalem and Hebron.
In an apparent effort to appease the Palestinians, the government has drawn up plans for 6,000 homes for Arabs in east Jerusalem, Israel TV reported.
Palestinian officials responded warily to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposal to skip the interim phase when Israel is supposed to make two further withdrawals from the West Bank, and move directly to talks on the big issues - Jerusalem and Palestinian demands for statehood.
Yasser Arafat, in an angry speech to Palestinian legislators in Gaza City, alluded to Netanyahu’s proposal, accusing the Israeli leader of trying to get out of Israel’s commitment to give back land.
“Day after day, we have more statements from this (Israeli) government about their non-commitments and suggesting new ideas and new additions,” Arafat said. “They want to replace land-for-peace with the peace-for-peace notion.”
Arafat accused Netanyahu’s government of “trickery and conspiracy” for building the Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and where the Palestinians want to build their future capital.
He said the move would return the region to a “cycle of violence and destruction.”
“Do they think us dumb or lazy children?” Arafat asked. “We reject Israel’s attempts to decide the future of Jerusalem unilaterally.”
The clashes in Bethlehem broke out during a Palestinian march protesting the start of construction on the new Jewish neighborhood.
Hundreds of Palestinians stoned Israeli troops guarding the grave of the biblical matriarch Rachel on the outskirts of the city. Soldiers fired back rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and sound grenades in clashes that lasted more than three hours. Some demonstrators grabbed tear gas canisters from the ground and flung them back at soldiers.
Palestinian officials made sporadic efforts to hold back the crowd, beating demonstrators with wooden batons.
Twenty Palestinians and one soldier were treated for tear gas inhalation, and two Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets.
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, visiting troops guarding the east Jerusalem construction site, said he had received new warnings of Palestinian violence following Muslim prayers today.