Prime Minister Netanyahu
Photo: AFP
Netanyahu: Disorder will not become new reality in Jerusalem
Prime minister says massive reinforcements called up to secure city and will operate decisively to quell violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the government was working to avert the violence in Jerusalem. "In recent days we have reinforced the city with a thousand police officers, border police and specialized units. We will not allow rock throwing and disorder to become a reality in the capital."
Netanyahu added that "it is not a coincidence that there are radical Islamist sources attempting to inflame the Israeli capital, and we will operate all force necessary to decisively and responsibly thwart their efforts. I expect wide support from all Israelis to defend the capital of Israel."
Palestinian protesters (Photo: Getty Images)
Earlier on Sunday, Palestinians clashed with police in east Jerusalem as tensions mounted ahead of a funeral Sunday for a Palestinian who plowed his car into a crowd of Israelis, killing a baby.
Police said at least five Palestinians were arrested overnight Sunday as nightly clashes continued across the capital city.
Tensions have been rising ahead of Sunday night's funeral for Abed a-Rahman a-Shaludii, the Palestinian who drove into a Jerusalem crowd on Wednesday, killing three-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun and wounding six others.
His funeral was due to take place around 11 pm near Jerusalem's Old City walls, after it was delayed from Friday for security reasons.
Police and worshippers during Friday prayer services (Photo: Mohammed Shinawi)
Israeli authorities are only allowing 20 mourners to attend and they have had to submit their names to police in advance.
The overnight clashes were especially intense in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood, an area near Jerusalem's Old City from where Shaludi hailed.
Police dispersed gangs of stone-throwing protesters in Silwan overnight, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that there was scattered unrest again on Sunday morning.
"At least 400 to 500" extra police units have been deployed "to prevent and respond to any incident," Rosenfeld said.
Shaludi was shot dead by police as he fled on foot from what Israeli authorities branded a "terror attack" that killed the 3-month-old baby, who was also a US national.
Tensions were further stoked after the army on Friday shot dead a West Bank teenager who Israeli authorities said had been about to hurl a petrol bomb at Israeli motorists near Ramallah.
Relatives of the dead 17-year-old, Orwa Hammad, said his funeral would also take place on Sunday, to allow his father time to travel from the United States where he is a resident citizen. Hammad was also a US national.
Washington has urged "all parties to help restore calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of the tragic recent incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also called for "a speedy and transparent investigation" into Hammad's death.
On Saturday the clashes saw Silwan residents stone a sanitation vehicle sent to clean up debris from Friday's stone-throwing.
Police in Shuafat (Photo: AFP)
In Al-Tur on the Mount of Olives, masked Palestinians blocked the road with garbage bins and threw stones and petrol bombs, while near the Shuafat refugee camp stones were thrown at the Jerusalem light railway, a frequent target.
Israel seized Arab east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognized by the international community. Some 200,000 Israelis live there alongside about 300,000 Palestinians.
Much of Palestinian anger is focused on Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and in particular on Silwan – a densely populated Arab neighbourhood on a steep hillside just south of the Old City.
Silwan hit the headlines in the past month when settlers acquired another 35 apartments there, triggering outrage from the Palestinians and US condemnation.
On Friday, Israeli media reported that hard-line Housing Minister Uri Ariel was considering moving into Silwan, a move that would surely boost tensions.
Noam (Dabul) Dvir and Reuters contributed to this report.
