Netanyahu pledges harsh tactics
October 23, 2014
Police clashed with youths in East Jerusalem on Thursday as protests continued after officers shot a man who rammed his car into a railway station. Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged allegations with the Palestinian Authority after Wednesday's crash, which left a 3-month-old baby dead and eight others injured.
"Jerusalem is united and was, and always will be, the eternal capital of Israel," Netanyahu said. "Any attempt to harm its residents will be met with the harshest response."
The police shot Abdelrahman Shaludi, 21, when he tried to flee the car on foot, and he later died of his injuries. The Palestinian Authority declined to condemn the incident, treating it as an accident.
Family members said that Israel had recently released Shaludi from prison, where he served 14 months for disturbing the peace.
'Seeds of desperation'
Clashes erupted between police and protesters across Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as their future capital, lasting into the early hours of Thursday. Police confirmed arrests but would not give a number. By morning, following an order from Netanyahu, police surged into flashpoint neighborhoods in a bid to stamp out a wave of persistent unrest that began nearly four months ago.
Netanyahu has accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of encouraging attacks in East Jerusalem, home to the city's more than 200,000 Arab residents, as well as 200,000 Israelis. However, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks toward a two-state solution, accused Netanyahu of turning a blind eye to Israel's provocative actions in the city's strife-hit east.
"The man, once he looks at the mirror ... should know who's responsible for the miserable situation of Palestinians and Israelis, the escalation of violence and so on," Erakat told reporters in Ramallah on Thursday. "He plants the seeds of desperation."
In recent months, Israeli settlers have snapped up homes in East Jerusalem, including 35 apartments in September, triggering outrage from Palestinians and condemnation from the United States. In September, Israel announced a tender for 283 more settler homes in the West Bank.
Palestinian community officials say that Israel's policies of economic and social exclusion have helped fuel the wave of unrest gripping east Jerusalem, contributing to a sense of hopelessness among youths.
On Thursday, police warned that they had adopted a "zero tolerance" policy toward any incident of violence in east Jerusalem, pledging to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent. Police officials said they had activated "a strategic plan" to end the wave of unrest, including aerial observation and the deployment of extra forces on the ground, some of them undercover.
Earlier in October, police fought protesters after Israel closed off the Aqsa Mosque compound, allowing Jewish worshipers into the disputed area, also home to Judaism's sacred Temple Mount. Over the summer, a 50-day war in the Gaza Strip turned the area into ash and rubble. Residents are still struggling to recover.
mkg/sb (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)