MIDEAST-PALESTINIANS/ISRAEL-CLASHES Violence spread to West Bank as Palestinians, Israeli forces clash

Record ID: 398750

  • Title: MIDEAST-PALESTINIANS/ISRAEL-CLASHES Violence spread to West Bank as Palestinians, Israeli forces clash
  • Date: 7th November 2014
  • Summary: HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 7, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HAMAS SUPPORTERS PROTESTING IN SUPPORT WITH AL-AQSA SUPPORTERS CHANTING PALESTINIAN SECURITY CLOSING THE WAY TO PREVENT PROTESTERS REACHING CLASHES WOMEN CHANTING AGAINST PALESTINIAN SECURITY VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN YOUTHS THROWING STONES AT ISRAELI FORCES ISRAELI SOLDIER TAKING POSITION IN HOUSE AND FIRING TEAR GAS
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA26B3JS8R0BPCVHZNB9UJMA26Q
  • Story Text: Violence spilled into the occupied West Bank on Friday (November 7) as Palestinian protested against the Israeli restrictions in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.
    After Friday prayers Hamas supporters in Hebron held a protest that turned violent as Palestinian riot police failed to prevent them from reaching an area where Israeli forces were taking positions. At the scene Palestinian youths threw stones while Israeli troops fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
    At the Qalandiya checkpoint which separates Ramallah from Jerusalem, troops fired rubber bullets as several hundred protesters marched, some throwing rocks and firebombs.
    Palestinians reported that at least seven people were wounded.
    In the East Jerusalem district of Shoafat police fired tear gas to disperse protesters hurling firecrackers and burning car tires that sent up huge clouds of black smoke.
    EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, on a two-day visit to the region, said earlier on Friday that a surge of violence in Jerusalem made it all the more critical that Israel and the Palestinians return to negotiations quickly.
    The last talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in April after months of largely fruitless negotiation, with the Palestinians angry at the continued building of Jewish settlements in occupied territory, and Israel furious at attempts to bring the Islamist group Hamas, which officially denies Israel's right to exist, into the Palestinian government.
    Jerusalem has seen a wave of unrest over the past four months, since before the July-August Gaza war. Violence has spiked in the past two weeks, with Palestinian drivers ramming into Israeli pedestrians, killing four people.
    A focus of Palestinian and regional anger has been a dispute over Jerusalem's holiest site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
    For decades, Israel has maintained a ban on Jews praying at the site, which houses the Dome of the Rock and the 8th-century al-Aqsa mosque.
    In recent weeks, a campaign by far-right Jewish nationalists to be allowed to pray at the site has gathered momentum, leading to clashes at the compound between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshippers angry at what they see as an assault on a shrine that is administered by Islamic authorities.


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