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Settlers destroying cars (Photo by PNN)

by Ida Vanhainen - IMEMC News & agencies

In Bab-al-Asbat, East Jerusalem, the annual Tisha B’Av march led to violence. The Jewish occasion, which marks the grieving of the temple destruction, invoked violence when a group of settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, threw stones at Palestinian residents and destroyed three cars.

The settler march, which was launched from Bab al-Amoud advanced toward Jerusalem's Western Wall for the Jewish religious occasion. Tisha B’Av is a mourning commemoration marked by believers who grieve over the destruction of the two temples. For this special solemn occasion, the Israeli army closed the street of Bab al-Asbat in the neighbourhood.

This did not however prevent settlers and soldiers from harassing Palestinian residents.

According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre, settlers started throwing stones at nearby Palestinian youths while the soldiers attacked them with batons causing injuries to several.

Another group of settlers vandalized cars along the street, entirely destroying three of them and causing injuries to the passengers.