100s Jerusalemites injured as ultra-right wing Israelis march, chant ‘death to Arabs’

Over 100 Palestinians were wounded and 50 detained in overnight attacks at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem as a group of some 300 extreme-right Israeli settlers marched to the area chanting “Death to Arabs”.

Israeli occupation officers sprayed foul-smelling skunk water towards Palestinian worshippers and the Israeli settlers. Settlers were said to be assaulted Palestinian civilians under police watch, reported Wafa news agency. As they marched, many chanted “Death to Arabs” and some waved banners reading: “Death to terrorists”.

Israeli settlers, particularly extreme right-wingers, are rarely held to account by the occupation authorities. Indeed, in most cases, the settlers who harass and attack Palestinians are accompanied and protected by Israeli soldiers.

In a press statement issued yesterday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed that “East Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine and is a red line”, and urged the international community to protect the Palestinian people from the ongoing settler attacks, which he said were encouraged by the Israeli government.

Nightly attacks by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers against Palestinians after prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque have increased since the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

OCHA: Israel demolished, seized 20 Palestinian structures in two weeks

Today, Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, called out the Israeli soldiers and settlers for their violent assaults against Palestinians throughout the occupied city of East Jerusalem as organised state terrorism.

He said injuring over 100 Palestinians and detaining 50 others during the holy month of Ramadan is an “organised act of state terrorism intended to obliterate the Palestinian character of Jerusalem, impose false facts on it and violate holy places in Jerusalem”.

“The scenes of heroism emerging from the streets and alleys of the city of Jerusalem tonight of the defenseless Jerusalem youth with willpower and resolve, as they stand up to settler attacks, confirm once again the failure of Israeli plans to Judaize the Holy City, and bring back memories of scenes of heroism when Muslim and Christian Jerusalemites resisted and foiled the Israeli occupation authorities’ plans to install electronic metal detectors four years ago,” he added.

At least 600,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 250 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. According to international law, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are classified occupied Palestinian territories and all Jewish settlements built there and the settlers who live in them are illegal.