Israeli right calls for military government
Reports from Ynet and Ma’an news
Police stop cars driven by Palestinians on the road to East Jerusalem and frisk the drivers. Photo, October 14th, by AFP.
Israel seals off East Jerusalem in attempt to quell violence
IDF deploys hundreds of non-combat troops to aid police forces in securing city centres, as checkpoints are set up at entrances to Arab neighbourhoods.
By Ynet reporters
October 13 /14, 2015
Israeli security forces began sealing off East Jerusalem on Wednesday in an attempt to quell violence, as the wave of terror sweeping over the country reached new highs the previous day when five terror attacks claimed the lives of three people and left some 20 wounded.
Police started setting up checkpoints at the entrances to Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
Several of the entrances to Jabel Mukaber, the neighbourhood from which hailed three of Tuesday’s terrorists, have already been sealed off – with neither people nor vehicles allowed in or out.
Border police troops blocking off entrance to Jabel Mukaber, E. Jerusalem. Photo by Elior Levy
Much of the violence since the start of October has been carried out by residents of East Jerusalem, the predominantly Arab side of the city.
The IDF, meanwhile, deployed hundreds of troops to assist police forces in securing Israeli cities. So far, some 300 soldiers have been teamed up with police forces and deployed for security assignments across the country under police command.
The troops belong to non-combat units, such as military police, Home Front Command soldiers, and soldiers undergoing different military courses. They will be stationed in crowded areas at city centers to increase civilians’ sense of security.
In addition, the IDF reinforced the Judea and Samaria Division with two additional battalions. Three reinforcement companies were redeployed to the Seam Zone – an area between the Green Line and Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank. Two battalions in Gaza were redeployed to the border fence amid attempts of Palestinians to infiltrate Israel, and rioting at the crossings.
The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss drafting 1,400 Border Police reservists.
Police block Palestinians from entering the Via Dolorosa street in the Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City on October 8, 2015. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90
At a meeting of the security cabinet that finished in the early hours, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also allowed revocation of residency rights of Palestinians deemed to have committed “terrorism” and a step-up in the demolition of homes of people who carry out attacks.
The Security Cabinet approved on Tuesday night a proposal by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz to place additional security for public transportation in Jerusalem. Soldiers will be used at first, until sufficient numbers of security guards can be trained.
The cabinet also decided to strip residency rights and demolish homes of some attackers and draft hundreds more security guards to secure public transport.
Additionally, the cabinet approved a proposal by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan not to return the bodies of terrorists killed during the attacks they commit to their families.
“The terrorist’s family turns their funeral to a rally of support in terrorism and incitement to murder, and we must not allow that,” Erdan said.
Erdan also approved measures that would make it easier to obtain firearm licenses.
“In recent weeks, many civilians aided the Israel Police in neutralizing terrorists committing attacks. Civilians trained in the use of firearms could double the power in the fight against terrorism,” Erdan said.
A troop of Israeli border police check a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in Jabel Mukaber, in an area of the West Bank that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed to the city of Jerusalem October 14, 2015. Photo by Ronen Zvulun /Reuters
Meanwhile, settler leaders in the West Bank decided not to wait on the government’s actions and barred the entry of Palestinian workers into their regional councils.
The decision was first made in Kiryat Arba at the beginning of the week, and followed by the Har Hevron Regional Council, after stones and Molotov cocktails were hurled at Israeli vehicles in its territory.
Next were regional councils in the Samaria region, where Har Brakha and Kedumim barred the entry of Arabs into their areas. Other areas that followed were Gush Etzion, Efrat, Ariel, Ma’ale Adumim and Beitar Illit.
Seven Israelis and 30 Palestinians, including children and attackers, have died in two weeks of violence including stabbings, shootings, car rammings and security crackdowns that have stirred memories of past Palestinian uprisings.
The causes of the turmoil are multiple, but Palestinians are angry about what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, an area that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
There is also deep-seated frustration with the failure of years of peace efforts to deliver meaningful change, with the Palestinians no closer to statehood and no end to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli settlers demand a harsher crackdown on Palestinians, near Bet Forek checkpoint where two Israeli settlers were killed, 02 October 2015. The Israeli army closed all the checkpoints around nearby Nablus. Photo by EPA
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, talking to Ynet on Tuesday, called for a “military government along the ’67 borders to be established in East Jerusalem and also around ‘The Triangle’ if there are further riots,” referring to a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, located in the eastern Sharon plain among the Samarian foothills.
“No terrorist should come out of an attack alive,” said Lieberman. “Adopt the American rules of engagement and revoke the status of any East Jerusalem resident involved in terror,” he continued.
“Emergency regulations and military rule should be instituted,” he added.
Lieberman [L] also proposed a curfew on East Jerusalem and further called for, if necessary, “military rule over some of the villages along the ’67 lines.
“Both Ramallah and Gaza are behind the incitement appearing through Palestinian media and social media,” Lieberman added.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, speaking at the scene of Tuesday morning’s attacks, also called for a curfew on East Jerusalem.
“You will soon hear about drastic measures that have not been seen until now,” Barkat declared. “They will be coordinated with the Shin Bet and the police,” he added.
“While calling on the government and security forces to sharpen its measures, we also call on residents not to take the law into their own hands,” Barkat continued.
“Security forces must be allowed to carry out their functions,” he said.
Noam (Dabul) Dvir, Roi Yanovsky, Omri Efraim, Elisha Ben-Kimon, Attila Somfalvi and Reuters contributed to this report.
Israeli forces deploy, set up checkpoints in East Jerusalem
By Ma’an news
October 14, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Several Palestinians were detained and checkpoints were set up at the entrances to Palestinian neighborhoods on Wednesday as Israeli officials launched punitive measures across occupied East Jerusalem following a string of attacks.
Israeli forces raided the al-Issawiya and Jabal al-Mukabbir neighbourhoods early Wednesday and detained 12 Palestinian students from the area, locals told Ma’an. The detainees were identified as Sameer Obeid, Ibrahim Obeid, Jalam Omran Dari, Muhammad Mustafa Dari, Medhat Obeid, Sameer Muhamamd Obeid, Ramzi Ahmad Owisat, Eiad Atta Owisat, Ehab Shafiq abu Dhem, Nadir Naji Owiast, Akram Mustafa Dari, and Mahmoud Owisat.
Israeli forces set up checkpoints at the entrance to the al-Issawiya and al-Tur neighbourhoods, Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, a local follow-up committee spokesman, told Ma’an.
Al-Hummus added that the forces were issuing citations to Palestinian drivers at random. Israeli security also inspected several Palestinian youths and students in “humiliating” ways, forcing them to take off their clothes, he added.
Israeli forces have also been deployed in and around the Old City in a bid by Israeli authorities to curb rising violence in the city.
Locals told Ma’an that Israeli troops raided Al-Aqsa Mosque compound when right-wing Israelis entered the area through the Dung Gate.
Sixty “black-listed” Palestinian women were also barred from entering the holy compound.
An Israeli police spokesperson had no comment on Wednesday’s security measures.
Earlier, Israel’s security cabinet announced that Israeli police are now entitled to “impose a closure on, or to surround, centres of friction and incitement in Jerusalem, in accordance with security considerations,” according to reports by Israeli news site Haaretz.
The cabinet also gave approval for the revocation of residency status for Palestinians who carry out attacks as well as the police closure of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli army reinforcements are being sent to aid police in cities and main roads, and 300 security guards are expected to be stationed on and around public transportation.
Late Tuesday, Israeli forces detained Shoruq Mazru,15, from the Shufat Refugee Camp and four Palestinians from al-Tur and Silwan neighbourhoods.
Head of the Jerusalem detainees committee Amjad abu Asab said that Israeli troops also detained five Palestinians from Ranana east Tel-Aviv. Two of the detainees were identified as Salah al-Basti, Majd al-Basti, and Tariq Abdeen.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem has called the Israeli government’s response to recent escalation in the area as “the very inverse of what ought to be done” in realistic efforts to stop current violence.
“The events of recent weeks cannot be viewed in a vacuum, isolated from the reality of the ongoing, daily oppression of 4 million people, with no hope of change in sight,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
At least seven Israelis and 30 Palestinians have been killed in violence that has escalated since the beginning of October.
Three-hundred and sixty Palestinians have been shot with live fire, 932 with rubber-coated steel bullets, and 2,365 have been injured by tear gas since Oct. 1, the Red Crescent said.
Dozens of Israelis have been injured in Palestinian attacks, mainly stabbings.