LONDON: Israeli settlers have installed an iron gate inside the walled city of East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority has claimed.
The Jerusalem Governorate said that the gate was welded in place in the Cotton Merchants’ Market, one of the main bazaars in the Old City.
The action was “an attack on a landmark” and part of a broader policy to control public spaces in the Old City, harming its historical character, according to the Wafa news agency.
The iron gate sealing the arch-shaped entrance has restricted the movement of Palestinians in the area, while settlers performed Jewish rituals nearby as part of efforts to impose a new reality in the walled city, the governorate added.
Israeli police denied any involvement in the gate’s installation and took no action to remove it, the governorate said.
The Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Nearly 33,000 people reside in the Old City, the majority of whom are Palestinians, along with about 4,000 Jewish settlers. In June 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Syrian Golan Heights.
