Palestinian and foreign protesters repel settlers’ attack on Sheikh Jarrah area

– Hundreds of Palestinians and foreign activists managed to repel an attempt by Israeli settlers to storm the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem during their participation in the weekly march held in protest at the Judaization of the neighborhood.

The reporter of the Palestinian information center (PIC) said that a number of settlers under police protection gathered near the march and raised Israeli flags in an attempt to incite the feelings of the protesters.

The reporter added that those settlers tried to perform provocative Talmudic rituals at the doors and gates of the confiscated Palestinian homes in the neighborhood, but the heavy presence of Palestinian citizens and foreign activists frightened them and made them leave the area.

Immediately after that, the Israeli policemen declared the area a closed military zone and prevented settlers from approaching the neighborhood and allowed them to perform their rituals at the entrance of the neighborhood.

Once finished their rituals, the settlers headed to the neighborhood’s mosque and threw stones at it, but Palestinian citizens fended them off.

In another context, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper said Friday that dozens of settlements in the West Bank are experiencing a building boom despite the construction freeze.

It added that it toured on Wednesday Al-Samra area to the east of the separation fence and witnessed construction works carried out in the Barkan and Ariel industrial zones, as well as the construction of new settlement units at Ariel, Elkana North, Peduel and Kafr Tapuah and a sign at Kafr Tapuah announcing plans for the construction of 65 other units.

In all the sites mentioned there is evidence of heavy equipment preparing the ground for construction or for the creation of suitable infrastructure, the newspaper added.

According to data collected by Israeli organizations such as Yesh Din and Peace Now, construction is being carried out in more than 50 settlements and in two other industrial zones, namely, Mevo Huron and Gush Etzion.

On the seventh of December a tender was published for the sale of a large plot for the construction of a commercial structure at the Gush Etzion junction, the newspaper noted.