Violence Intensifies in East Jerusalem

(CBS/ AP)  Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET

Hundreds of Palestinians in east Jerusalem set tires and garbage bins ablaze on Tuesday and hurled rocks at Israeli riot police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. The heaviest clashes in months broke out as an American envoy abruptly canceled a visit, deepening a U.S.-Israeli diplomatic feud.

The violence spread from Arab neighborhood to Arab neighborhood across the eastern side of the volatile city.

CBS Radio News correspondent Richard Berger reports that the violence erupted after Hamas called a "day of rage" to protest Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City.

Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces throughout the day. In one incident, youths hoisted a giant Palestinian flag and shouted, "We shall die and Palestine shall live."

Thousands of police, including anti-riot units armed with assault rifles, stun grenades and batons, were deployed across east Jerusalem in anticipation of the unrest.

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Palestinian medics said 10 people were seriously wounded, five from rubber bullets. Israeli police said 15 security men suffered light wounds, including one man wounded by gunfire. About 60 protesters were arrested.

"They are donkeys and dwarfs!" a woman screamed as riot police and plainclothes security men hauled away a handcuffed, hooded youth. Police pinned the youth to the ground, setting muzzled Doberman pinschers near them as the young man shrieked in panic.

Palestinian merchants in east Jerusalem shuttered their stores in solidarity with the protests, and Palestinian schools in the city were closed. Small clashes also took place in several West Bank towns.

The diplomatic dispute with the U.S. was sparked by Israel's announcement last week of plans for 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, which undercut a visit by Vice President Joe Biden aimed at bolstering peace talks. Palestinians claim that sector of the city for a future capital. Israel claims all of the holy city as its eternal capital.

The announcement enraged Palestinians, who have threatened to bow out of U.S.-brokered peace talks that were supposed to begin in the coming days. The Obama administration has angrily demanded that Israel call off the project.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio on Tuesday that demands to halt construction "are unreasonable." He predicted the row with the U.S. would blow over.

But Washington notified Israel that its special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, had indefinitely put off his trip to the region.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that Israel must prove it is committed to the Mideast peace process with actions, but she brushed aside suggestions U.S.-Israeli relations are in crisis and reaffirmed America's steadfast commitment to its security.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said, "Israel's government has proved over the past year its commitment to peace, in words and in deeds," noting Netanyahu's acceptance of the creation of a Palestinian state and the "removal of hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints" in the West Bank.

Clinton said U.S. and Israeli officials are in intense talks about how to repair the damage caused by Israel's announcement.

"We are engaged in very active consultations with the Israelis over steps that we think would demonstrate the requisite commitment to the process," she told a State Department news conference. She did not say when Mitchell would return to the region.

Netanyahu ordered his ministers and spokespeople not to talk to the media about the construction in east Jerusalem. However, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office issued the order for the new homes, agreed to discuss other issues in an interview with The Associated Press.

Yishai said he hoped the tensions with the Palestinians will calm down. "The riots are not appropriate. There are people who are interested in provoking unrest and inflaming the region," he said.

He also expressed regret over the dispute with Washington and said Israel was taking unspecified "measures" to defuse the situation. But an aide poked an AP reporter in the back when he asked about the contentious construction plan, and Yishai abruptly ended the interview.

Netanyahu has apologized for the timing of the project's approval, but has not said it would be canceled.

The feud is feeding already high tension in east Jerusalem, where Jews and Palestinians live together uneasily.

Palestinian officials had called on the public to defend Muslim religious interests in Jerusalem after the rededication Monday of a historic synagogue in the Jewish quarter of the Old City. The rededication has stoked rumors that Jewish extremists are planning to take over the hilltop shrine at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But the unrest appears to reflect a deeper frustration over the yearlong standstill in peace efforts.

"Jerusalem is witnessing the largest Jewish projects aimed at swallowing the city," said Hatem Abdel Qader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "This strong reaction from the Palestinian street sends a message to the Israelis that we will not accept that."

Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. But the international community does not recognize the annexation and considers the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be illegal settlements. Some 180,000 Jews now live in a ring of Israeli neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, alongside 250,000 Palestinians in Arab neighborhoods.

In the Gaza Strip, the Islamic militant Hamas group held a rally to protest what it claimed was an assault on Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.

"We address a message to our brothers in the West Bank: 'Go out for resistance and uprising,"' said Deputy Parliament speaker Ahmad al-Bahar.

[Lionofjudah79]

American's are ignorant to the facts. Arabs hate the Palestinians almost as much as the Jews that is why they have denied Palestinian's citizenship in all surrounding Arab countries for many years. This is why they stuck these people with the Jews. The Arabs take advantage of the fighting so they can condem Israel but in reality they don't care for the Palestinian's. Proof of this is in an Arab treaty promising millions of dollars in oil profits to Palestine to help build infrastructure, hospitals, schools, etc. so far the U.S who is not part of the treaty has given the most money. The Arabs never gave the money they promised to Palestine but I'm not surprised because they hate them. Palestine's true beef is with the surrounding Arab countries who have left them high and dry. If Palestine was smart they would stop shooting missiles into Israel and start the peace process... that would truely enrage the Arabs (peace) and you would see their true agenda. Imagine if Mexico kept shooting missiles into California, all you idots would demand we attack Mexico at once.. it's always ok if it's the U.S. but if Israel does anything they are the bad guys. I just wish Israel and Palestine would unite peacefully so people could see how the Arabs really feel. Israel is forever which I know doesn't sit well with all the racist anti-semetic people in the world but that is ok because all of our (REAL) American Christian brother's and sister's are our greatest supporters and friends and together we will protect our most sacred of places at any cost....

[bankersvox]

Jordan is already a Palestinean State by population and historically should have been. They have a stupid un elected KING and QUeen. What is up with that ? Jordan was supposed to have been the Homeland for these people. Not Israel. Jordan is your home. Go there. Leave the rest of the world out of it. What is wrong with you people ?

[4thGr8Depression]

bankersvox

Keep it up. Soon, the world, including America, will be Indifferent to Israel just as Germany was to the Jews before WWII.

According to our US State Department, Anti-Semitics is exploding around the world:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1334791720080314?feedType=RSSfeedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Without America Support, Israel is nobody in this world.

[nes718]

The land belong to those who have lived there for centuries and those are known as the Palestinians. In fact, they are true Semitic peoples, not the Eruopean transplants who converted to Judaism from the Khazaria Empire.

In fact, the Palestinians are the true decedents of the biblical Jews but converted to Islam after the Muslim conquests. The current Eastern European and Russian Jewish converts have no business in this land. The sooner they get out and return to their native lands the faster we'll have peace in the area.

Many of these people have figured this out and are defecting from the Apartheid Zionist state. Its only a matter of time until the Zionist regime must disappear from the pages of time.

[barcar55]

Israel claims all of the holy city as its eternal capital.
*************************************************************
God himself gave this land to Israel. They are the rightful owners and Washington needs to keep their nose out of it. Doesn't matter what your opinion is, this is the way that it is. God will fight for Israel and anyone opposed will lose. The Bible says if you are a friend to Israel you are a friend to God. If you come back and say something negative and ugly so be it. It will not change what I have read in the scripture.

[4thGr8Depression]

barcar55

The World cares less what your God say or don't say in the scripture or whatever.

According to our US State Department, Anti-Semitics is exploding around the world:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1334791720080314?feedType=RSSfeedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Do you really think Arabs/Moslems are going to just sit and take your craps?

[nes718]

Absolutely laughable! Most Zionist Jews are atheists and don't believe in God. If they did, they would not be brutally ethnically cleansing others from their lands. But since you bring up God, he commanded the Jews be dispersed throughout the world. Torah Jews believe and obey. Zionist Jews lead by the Lucefarian Hetzel and Rothschilds got that strip of land granted to the by the British. The place is condemned anyway and is why there is so much death and destruction there.

The Zionist Ashkenazi will figure this out soon enough and the Zionist regime will be no more in due time.

[formrusmcsgt]

But the international community does not recognize the annexation and considers the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be illegal settlements.
---
Says it all.

[erb0087]

According to her, the Jewish community in China freely intermarried with the Chinese, while still retaining their religious traditions -- I guess conversion to Judaism was encouraged -- so that in time they all acquired a typical Chinese physical appearance.
======================================================

Man, their SAT scores must be right off the charts...




[Just kidding]

[erb0087]

by mljohns00 March 16, 2010 3:48 PM EDT
This problem would be solved if all Muslims would convert to Judaism.
===============================================

Seriously, that would mean the destruction of Judaism as we know it, if a billion Muslims underwent conversion to Orthodox Judaism.

Judaism would lose its historical character at once.

[erb0087]

I heard an amusing anecdote long ago from a Vietnamese-American professor. I don't know if it's accurate or not.

According to her, the Jewish community in China freely intermarried with the Chinese, while still retaining their religious traditions -- I guess conversion to Judaism was encouraged -- so that in time they all acquired a typical Chinese physical appearance.

Anyway, these Chinese Jews supposedly sent a delegation to an international meeting of Jews, held in Europe.

When the Chinese Jews met the Caucasion European Jews for the first time, they supposedly said, "Funny, you don't look Jewish..."

It sounds like a joke, but she claimed it actually happened.

[nes718]

Oh boy! What a crock! Read "The Thirteenth Tribe" by Arthur Koestler to know the real historical character, LOL!

http://198.62.75.4/www2/koestler/

[erb0087]

by mljohns00 March 16, 2010 3:48 PM EDT
This problem would be solved if all Muslims would convert to Judaism.

============================================

I think the fair thing would be if both sides converted to some neutral religion that isn't found in the Middle East.

I would suggest the wholesome, nonfanatical faith of America's Cheyenne Indians, as an appropriate face saving choice. Obama could appoint Ben Nighthorse Campbell as the facilitator.

"Cheyenne religion recognises a number of deities. The two most important ones are the Wise One Above and a god who lives in the earth. At each point of the compass are four spirits. Central to Cheyenne ritual was the sun dance. This enhanced the dancer's power and ensured the renewal of the cosmos. [Great ! I missed that PBS series...] Another cosmogonic ritual was the Renewal of the Sacred Arrows. The ceremony is performed annually over a four day period around the time of the summer solstice. Only males can participate in the ceremony; the women must remain in their teepees during the four day ritual. The focal point of the ceremony are sacred arrows which empower the men of the tribe. In more recent times the Peyote Cult has become part of the religious life of the Cheyenne."

[KeithDrippingSprings]

Lets let the Israelis take care of themselves, quit sending them money. Let us support the UN and take action against all the oppressors of the world so we will no longer be the hypocrites that we have shown ourselves to be. Make no mistake about it. If we were not aligned with Israel there would not have been the 9/11 attack. If we didn't continually take the wrong side in most conflicts we wouldn't have so many enemies. If we came home and spent our money on our people and just protected our borders we all could live a better peaceful life.

For all you God people. If the Jews are Gods chosen people let God take care of them. If god had given them the land no one would have been able to take it away.

[jayescas]

Comment of the day!

An American with sense.

[nes718]

Agreed KeithDrippingSprings! The US feeds the Zionist regime over 10 billion dollars a year so they may kill and displace large number of people as they wish.

I bet if the US cut off all the welfare we give them they would either unleash 1000 Madoffs on us, call it quits or they'd be forced to seek peace.

[antoniof123]

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said, "Israel's government has proved over the past year its commitment to peace, in words and in deeds," noting Netanyahu's acceptance of the creation of a Palestinian state and the "removal of hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints" in the West Bank.

Wow, so that is what Benjamin thinks is working towards peace. Like the ultra right wing nut crowd we are going to go it alone let them the tides are turning on you and your violence it is only a matter of time if you don't want peace then war is what you will have and the blood will be on your hands not ours.

[U_S_Drug_Addict]

Say no to apparteid,