Clashes, arrests in Jerusalem ahead of Palestinian funeral
Jerusalem (AFP) - Tension soared in east Jerusalem Sunday as stone-throwing Palestinians and police clashed ahead of a funeral for a Palestinian man who ploughed his car into a crowd of Israelis, killing a baby.
Palestinian political groups called for a march from the restive east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound starting at 17:00 pm (1500 GMT).
Tensions have been rising ahead of Sunday night's funeral for Abdelrahman Shaludi, the Palestinian who drove into a Jerusalem crowd on Wednesday, killing a three-month-old girl and wounding six other people.
His funeral was due to take place at around 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) near east Jerusalem's Old City walls, after it was delayed from Friday for security reasons.
Israeli authorities are only allowing 20 mourners to attend and they have had to submit their names to police in advance.
Police said at least five Palestinians were arrested late Saturday as nightly clashes continued across Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
The latest clashes were especially intense in Silwan, an area near Jerusalem's Old City from where Shaludi hailed.
Police dispersed gangs of stone-throwing protesters, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that there was scattered unrest again on Sunday morning.
Violence also flared in the areas of Al-Tur, Sawaneh, Beit Hanina, Shuafat, Ras al-Amoud and Chayah, according to Israeli police and Palestinian groups.
Undercover officers assisted by surveillance ballons across east Jerusalem brought the riots under control, an AFP correspondent said.
Shaludi was shot dead by police as he fled on foot from what Israeli authorities branded a "terror attack" that killed Haya Zissel Braun, who was also a US national.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Jerusalem's security forces were further reinforced with an extra 1,000 police and border police, including special forces.
"We will not allow the reality of Jerusalem to become one of throwing stones and firebombs, and disturbances," he said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu blamed "extremist Islamic elements" for being behind the attempts to "incite Israel's capital."
"We will use all the force necessary, resolutely and responsibly, to ensure they do not succeed," he vowed.
Tensions were further stoked after the army on Friday shot dead a West Bank teenager who Israeli authorities said had been about to hurl a petrol bomb at Israeli motorists near Ramallah.
Relatives of the dead 14-year-old, Orwa Hammad, said his funeral would also take place on Sunday, to allow his father time to travel from the United States where he is a resident citizen. Hammad was also a US national.
Washington has urged "all parties to help restore calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of the tragic recent incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also called for "a speedy and transparent investigation" into Hammad's death.
- Restive neighbourhood -
In clashes on Saturday, Silwan residents hurled rocks at a sanitation vehicle sent to clean up debris from stone-throwing the previous night.
In Al-Tur on the Mount of Olives, masked Palestinians blocked the road with garbage bins and threw stones and petrol bombs, while near Shuafat refugee camp stones were thrown at the Jerusalem light railway, a frequent target.
Israel seized Arab east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised by the international community.
Some 200,000 Israelis live there alongside about 300,000 Palestinians.
Much of Palestinian anger is focused on Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and in particular on Silwan -- a densely-populated Arab neighbourhood on a steep hillside just south of the Old City.
Silwan hit the headlines in the past month when settlers acquired another 35 apartments there, triggering outrage from the Palestinians and US condemnation.
On Friday, Israeli media reported that hardline Housing Minister Uri Ariel was considering moving into Silwan, a move that would boost tensions.
Israel regards the entire city of Jerusalem as its "undivided capital" and does not see construction or the purchase of houses in the eastern sector as settlement activity.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Obama urged Israel not to overreact to the murder of the 3 month old Jewish baby the other day but will he say anything about the Palestinian rampage?
The AP is wrong about the Palestinians wanting east Jerusalem for its capital. They want no Israel and no Jews in Israel.
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