JERUSALEM: Israeli police said on Thursday that they had arrested nine Palestinians during clashes in East Jerusalem, with tensions surging in the city and across the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians launched a rare general strike on Wednesday in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, including closing shops, in response to a days-long operation by Israeli security forces in the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp.
Israel is searching the camp for the suspected killer of 18-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Lazar.
With the manhunt ongoing and clashes persisting, Israeli police said they had arrested Palestinians who were “throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and attacking officers.”
Munib Al-Qutob, an emergency worker, said that there had been “lots of injuries from rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation.”
A masked Palestinian in Shuafat, who asked that his name be withheld, said that Israeli forces were “full of anger because they can’t capture him,” referring to the 22-year-old Palestinian suspect.
Police said the Issawiya and Silwan neighborhoods of East Jerusalem also saw clashes, with two officers slightly injured.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem following the 1967 Six Day War, a move not recognized by most of the international community.
Clashes between security forces and Palestinians in the area are common.
But with violence rising, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was scheduled to hold an East Jerusalem assessment with top security chiefs, his office said.
Bloodshed is also spiraling in the West Bank, where Israeli forces are conducting near daily raids pursuing suspects they accuse of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including fighters and civilians, in an escalation that began in March.
Israeli police arrest nine in East Jerusalem unrest
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Israeli police arrest nine in East Jerusalem unrest
- Police said they arrested 23 people following the confrontations, half of them minors
- The uptick in violence in the flashpoint city comes amid soaring tensions in the West Bank
Supporters of Tunisia’s Saied rally amid deepening political divisions
- Rights groups have accused Saied of an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition
TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied’s supporters rallied in the capital on Wednesday calling the opposition “traitors,” following mounting street protests in recent weeks that have highlighted widening political divisions.
The rival rallies come amid a deepening economic crisis marked by high inflation, shortages of some basic goods and poor public services, which have fueled public anger.
Rights groups have accused Saied of an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, saying he is using the judiciary and police to stifle criticism. Saied rejects the accusations, saying he is cleansing the country of traitors and a corrupt elite.
Demonstrators gathered in central Tunis waving national flags and chanting slogans backing Saied, whom they credit with confronting corruption and entrenched political elites.
They accused Saied’s opponents of seeking to destabilize the country, describing them as “traitors.” They chanted “people want Saied again” and “we support the leadership and sovereignty.”
“We are here to rescue Tunisia from traitors and colonial lackeys,” protester Saleh Ghiloufi said.
Saied’s critics say arrests of opposition leaders, civil society groups and journalists underscore an authoritarian turn by the president since he took on extraordinary powers in 2021 to rule by decree.
The powerful UGTT union has called a nationwide strike next month.
A Tunisian court last week sentenced prominent opposition figure Abir Moussi to 12 years in prison, in what critics say is another step toward entrenching Saied’s one-man rule.
While an appeals court last month handed jail terms of up to 45 years to dozens of opposition leaders, business people and lawyers on charges of conspiracy to overthrow Saied.
Saied was elected in 2019 with an overwhelming mandate, but his consolidation of power has alarmed domestic opponents and international partners, who warn Tunisia is retreating from democratic governance.
