IDF quells W. Bank, J'lem riots

Several protesters arrested; military denies using live ammo.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
palestinian rioter 311 (photo credit: AP)
palestinian rioter 311
(photo credit: AP)
The IDF and other security forces on Friday quelled several simultaneous riots by Palestinians and left-wing activists on one side and settlers on the other in Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
Dozens of left-wing activists and Palestinians descended on the Shepherd Hotel in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to protest what they call the “Judaization” of Jerusalem.
The hotel, owned by Jewish American millionaire Irwin Moskowitz, was rented out to the Border Police for many years, but a recent approval to renovate the building and build Jewish housing units there prompted American condemnation and turned the site into a hot spot for protests.
In Friday’s riots, several demonstrators were wounded and others were detained.
Elsewhere in Sheikh Jarrah, left-wing activists held a protest against the moving into the neighborhood of several Jewish families who entered homes owned by Jews from which Palestinian families were evicted by court order.
Also on Friday, several settlers from Yitzhar, near Nablus, held a parade in the Palestinian village of Hawara, south of the city, to protest the wounds sustained by Shmulik Cohen, a Yitzhar resident who was badly hurt when his car was pelted with stones.
Border police officers arrived at the scene when the residents of Hawara began stoning the settlers. The Yitzhar residents protested what they called the security forces’ “feebleness” in dealing with Palestinian rioters.
The military said some of the settlers threw stones at the soldiers, but that the demonstration was dispersed with no incident.
In Nabi Salah, northwest of Ramallah, Palestinians and left-wingprotesters were dispersed by the military. Left-wing activists claimedthat two men were wounded by rubber bullets, and others said the IDFused live ammunition.
The military flatly rejected the claim, saying it used only rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protest.
Several hundred protesters gathered in Ni’ilin and Bil’in, twoPalestinian villages near the West Bank security barrier where protestsare held every Friday. The military last month declared the area wherethe protests take place a closed military zone on Fridays, but theprotesters were not deterred. They stoned soldiers, who responded withtear gas.