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Photos:
Scenes in Jerusalem. Published by IMEMC News

Videos by SILWANIC and WAFA News
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by IMEMC News
April 20, 2022

On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers abducted eight Palestinians and injured at least six from several parts of the occupied capital, Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank.

Media sources said the soldiers abducted a young man in front of Bab Hutta, leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinian has been identified as Zeid Abu Sneina from Silwan town, south of Al-Aqsa.

In the Old City, the soldiers also assaulted a young man, who remained unidentified at the time of this report, and abducted him.

Furthermore, the army abducted a schoolteacher and three of his students near Bab Hutta and took them to an interrogation facility.

In related news, fanatic Israeli colonizers, headed by Member of Knesset Itamar Bi-Gvir, held a provocative march in Bab al-Amoud and various parts of the Old City while Israeli soldiers attacked many Palestinians tried to remove them from the area.

The procession led to protests before the soldiers assaulted many Palestinian, including women and children, and abducted a young man in Bab al-‘Amoud.

The army also fired rubber-coated steel bullets wounding five Palestinians and assaulting a young man causing a fracture in his arm.

In addition, the soldiers attacked street vendors selling sweets and other food products and destroyed their stands after spilling their products on the ground, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center In Silwan (Silwanic) said.
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Israel Police Blocked Route as Hundreds Marched Towards Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter

Hamas says Israel should bear full responsibility for march's consequence ■ Far-right lawmaker Ben-Gvir joins marchers ■ 20 breach barriers to reach Damascus Gate

Jonathan Lis, Jack Khoury and Nir Hasson for Haaretz
Apr. 20, 2022 5:27 PM

Israel police blocked the route to Jerusalem's Damascus Gate on Wednesday as hundreds of right-wing activists defied police orders and began marching toward the Old City's Muslim Quarter.

As tensions mounted, some 20 people managed to breach police barriers and reach the gate, but were turned back by officers.

Police arrested two Palestinians in the Damascus Gate area, one on suspicion of throwing a bottle at security forces, and the other on suspicion of throwing stones at them.

Right-wing organizers blamed the government for the ban on holding the Flag March, rejecting the police claim that they had initially agreed to hold the march along an alternative route and then went back on the agreement.

"We will follow a route planned through the Old City, and hope the police will be brave and accompany the march," they said. "In any case, the police cannot stop people from walking with a flag to the Western Wall in the territories of the State of Israel. There is no such order."

Although the organizers initially said they would not march in violation of the police’s orders, they later called for the public to come to Safra Square in front of Jerusalem City Hall at 5 P.M. for the start of the march, saying, “We will bring back the feeling of safety to the streets of Jerusalem.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas responded in a press release, saying they were warning the occupation and the marchers approaching the holy sites, adding that the "occupation's leadership" should bear full responsibility for the consequences of what it called dangerous and provocative moves.

“We know what happened last year during the march and the firing of the rockets from Gaza that led to Operation Guardian of the Walls, and we don’t want a Guardian of the Walls 2, so the police will not approve the march and will act according to the law in this case,” a senior police officer told Haaretz.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid criticized the planned march, calling it "a provocation that causes us damage." He added that "these are radicals who are interested in creating provocations. What they want is for there to be violence and a conflagration that will burn Jerusalem. We won't allow them to burn Jerusalem for their politics."

Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir was among those present for the march, having earlier on Wednesday been forbidden by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett from visiting Damascus Gate in the Old City. "There's no reason in the world for a Jew to not be able to march by the walls of Jerusalem," Ben-Gvir said. "Our problem is Naftali Bennett, who abandoned the police."

Ben-Gvir also announced that he was bringing his mobile office to Tzahal Square, the site where police had set up barricades on the way to the Damascus Gate.

The march comes amidst heightened tensions in Jerusalem, with clashes between security forces and Palestinians culminating in Israeli forces' entry into Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday.

Further clashes took place Wednesday morning between Palestinians and the police at Jerusalem's Temple Mount compound — a site that has long been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.

A Molotov cocktail thrown by a Palestinian started a small fire in Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was quickly put out, while Palestinians also threw rocks at police present to protect Jews visiting the holy site on the Passover holiday.