49 Palestinians injured by Israelis in al-Quds clashes

Sources: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120959&sectionid=351020202


Nearly 50 Palestinians have been reported wounded in Jerusalem al-Quds in clashes with Israeli forces.

The Red Crescent in al-Quds reports that 49 Palestinians were wounded by noon in the Old City on Tuesday.

Among the wounded were 14 that incurred injures from rubber bullets while 16 suffered from tear gas inhalation. The rest of the injured were beaten by Israeli forces, Ynet reported.

Israeli police said its forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd which gathered in differed neighborhoods in East al-Quds to protest the inauguration of a rebuilt synagogue in the Old City near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The police had deployed around 3,000 forces in the city after Hamas called for uprisings against the reopening of the Hurva synagogue. Palestinians have described the US-backed action by the Israeli regime as 'the first step' in an Israeli ploy to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the name of rebuilding a Jewish Temple (Temple Mount) on its ruins.

The synagogue was destroyed during the 1948 Middle East war.

Israel is "determined to empty Jerusalem of its residents step by step... and it is trying to remove the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic and Christian sacred monuments," Hamas deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzuk told Al-Jazeera television.

"There must be plans to confront these Zionist plans, to be carried out over the long term, and not temporary actions that quench the rage and then end," he added.

Observers in the region describe the controversial move by the Israeli regime as an act of provocation that has been deliberately timed to coincide with a supposed tension between Washington and Tel Aviv over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Palestinian official urges revolt against Israeli coercion



Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121013&sectionid=351020202

The Palestinian Legislative Council has called on Palestinians for a maximum expression of anger over recent Israeli provocations in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Deputy Speaker of the council (PLC) Ahmad Bahar joined one of the many rallies held Tuesday across Gaza on the day dubbed by the Islamic Hamas movement as Palestinians' "day of rage" following Israel's controversial reopening of a synagogue close to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Express your anger to the maximum and call on the Arab League to cancel its decision to support the resumption of indirect negotiations with the Israeli occupation," Bahar emphasized, speaking to a crowd of demonstrators in Gaza.

He condemned restriction posed by Israel to prevent Palestinians from accessing the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and called on the military wing of Hamas — al-Qassam Brigades — to respond to recent clashes over blocking access to the holy sites there.

The PLC official also criticized the Palestinian Authority for preventing solidarity demonstrations with al-Aqsa protesters, describing the move as a "betrayal."

Bahar said the recent events, particularly the opening of the Hurva synagogue a few hundred meters away from the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, should be brought before the Arab League summit.

"The Israeli government once again declared their defiance against the Arab and Muslim world, continuing its expansion of settlements in Jerusalem (al-Quds) and the West Bank," he said.

According to the Red Crescent in al-Quds, some 50 Palestinians were reported wounded in recent clashes there.
---------------------------------------

Clashes erupt in tension-stricken al-Quds



Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120937&sectionid=351020202

Israeli soldiers clash with Palestinian protestors in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) as tensions reach a breaking point in the occupied neighborhood where Israel has reopened a synagogue.

Thousands of angry Palestinians took to streets in East al-Quds and several other neighborhoods on Tuesday upon a call by Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip who announced a "day of rage."

The call came in response to Israel's restoration of the Hurva synagogue a few hundred meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque — Muslims' third holiest site.

Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesters in the Shuafat refugee camp.

The protesters responded by hurling rocks at security forces and burning tires.

Similar clashes erupted in other parts of al-Quds despite tightened security and deployment of some 3,000 Israeli security forces across the city.

There have been no reports of casualties so far while the clashes are expected to flare later in the day.

Israel's announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new settler homes in al-Quds sparked furor among Palestinians.

The re-opening of a synagogue in the city on Monday has further fueled tensions and raised speculations of a third intifada.
---------------------------------------------------

Third Intifada in pipeline: PLO official



Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120945&sectionid=351020202

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warns a third uprising will ensue if Israel pushes ahead with its practices in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

"If matters remain at this level, regardless of whether we take the decision or not, it [an intifada] is coming. If Israel continues these practices, it is coming," Ma'an news agency quoted the organization's executive committee member, Ahmed Qurei, as saying.

Intifada "is not a matter of official decision, but rather it arises from the culmination of oppression, injustice, aggression and tyranny. It is something the people decide," Qurei told reporters during a Monday news conference in his office in East al-Quds.

"This is what happened with the two previous intifadas," he recalled.

Qurei criticized repeated attempts by Tel Aviv to change the city's demographic nature and the threat the regime posed to Arab Muslim and Christian identity. Israel's policy is aimed at severing al-Quds from negotiations and fully annexing the city to Israel, he added.

On Monday, a synagogue rededication ceremony, a few hundred meters away from the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, drew angry protests from Palestinians and prompted Hamas to call for massive demonstrations and dubbed Tuesday Palestinians' "day of rage."

Qurei, too, condemned the reopening of the Hurva synagogue as a "dangerous program" seeking to "Judaize" al-Quds and to falsify history.

The PLO official also spoke of unprecedented aggression and provocation from Israelis, citing a recent leaflet distributed by radical Jews calling on non-Jews to leave al-Quds amid mounting speculations of an Israeli takeover of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Revealing an 1882 map of al-Quds, which illustrated planned Israeli settlements, the former Palestinian prime minister said it proved "an unprecedented danger, which targets its land, people, holy sites, heritage and history."

Despite intense security measures by Israeli authorities on Tuesday and the presence of some 3,000 security forces in al-Quds, thousands of angry Palestinians gathered in different neighborhoods of the city and protested the restoration of the synagogue.

Israeli forces clashed with the Palestinian protestors and fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators.

Thousands march in Jerusalem rally

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/2010362141312196.html


At least 3,000 protesters, including Israelis and Palestinians, have rallied in an Arab quarter of east Jerusalem to protest the eviction of Palestinians from their homes there in favor of Jewish settlers.

The protesters waved red flags bearing the inscription "Shalom," or peace in Hebrew, during the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah on Saturday.

They chanted slogans such as "No to ethnic cleansing," and "Sheikh Jarrah residents don't lose hope, we are blocking the road to settlement."

A large Israeli police contingent watched over the demonstration, the largest of its kind for several decades against Jewish settlements in Jerusalem.

Police had intended to ban the gathering, but it was finally approved by the supreme court on an appeal launched by the far-left movement.

Old City evictions

The demonstration came amid tensions in the Old City after days of clashes between Israeli riot police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque and several Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem.

Several Palestinian families of Sheikh Jarrah have been expelled in recent months in favour of Israeli settlers on the grounds their houses belonged to Jews before the creation of Israel in 1948.

The evictions led to demonstrations that were put down by the police who arrested Israeli peace activists and pro-Palestinian foreigners.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war and built new quarters to house more than 200,000 Israelis.

The annexation has never been recognised by the international community. Palestinians denounce settlements in east Jerusalem, which they want to make the capital of their future state.

In early February, the daily Haaretz revealed Israeli authorities had given the green light to a project to build 600 homes in an area set aside for settlement in the eastern sector.