Israel has delayed the evictions in East Jerusalem due to warnings of growing violence

Israel bowed in the face of international pressure and delayed the deportation of several Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem, security services warned, as deportation could exacerbate one of the most serious violence in the Holy City over the years.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Sunday called for a postponement of Monday’s scheduled National Court session, which ordered the uprooting of dozens of Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah district to pave the way for Israeli settlers.

Over the weekend, Israeli police beat hundreds of unarmed Palestinians and threw stun grenades at the crowd – one fell into the prayer room of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem – in an effort to control protests that attracted tens of thousands of Arabs.

Palestinians threw stones at police, set fire to and demolished barricades, loaded police on horseback and used rubber bullets and water cannons on consecutive nights of fighting. Eighteen policemen were injured, Israel said. More than 300 Palestinians needed medical attention, Palestinian doctors said.

The Gulf and Arab nations condemned the actions of the Israeli security forces, and the US and EU allies expressed deep concern. There was outrage that images of police used violence inside the mosque complex, which Muslims called Haram al-Sharif and which Jews respected as a temple mountain.

“What the Israeli police and special forces are doing, from violations of the mosque to attacks on worshipers, is a barbecue,” the Jordanian government, which oversees the mosque, said on Sunday. Turkey called the actions “terrorism”.

The U.S. called on the Israeli government to “approach the people of Sheikh Jarrah with compassion and respect,” while evicting, demolishing houses and preventing settlements.

The dismissals are the result of a long-running dispute over land ownership in a middle-class Arab neighborhood. A Jewish trust legally bought the land in the Ottoman era in the 1870s, when it was destroyed by the Jordanian government after taking control of East Jerusalem in the 1948 war.

Palestinian families facing eviction – according to the Jordanian government – moved into their homes in 1967 before taking eastern Israel. Israeli law allows citizens to reclaim land lost in Jerusalem during the 1948 war in Jerusalem, but does not allow Palestinians to do the same.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told reporters that Israel’s biblical ties to Jerusalem reinforce its claim to the city.

“We strongly reject the pressure not to build in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, these pressures have intensified late, “he said before the cabinet meeting.” As each people builds its own capital and its own capital, so we reserve the right to build Jerusalem and Jerusalem. “

Without naming the U.S., where progressive Democratic lawmakers and the administration of President Joe Biden called for Israel to take no action, he added, “I also tell our best friends: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”

Israeli media reported that the attorney general has attached a secret document to the request for a delay, believing that the release of the security services opinion could lead to severe violence.

Postponement of the National Court session Israel buys time during the holy month of Ramadan in the old city of Jerusalem to try to increase anger among Palestinians angered by Israeli police actions. These included restrictions on access to the former Muslim Gate of Damascus.

On Saturday, thousands of Israeli Israelis had to walk to Jerusalem after police stopped buses of Muslim worshipers on the highway, saying they were looking for rioters. Although some 90,000 worshipers were able to attend al-Aqsa in Saturday prayers, the number was lower than normal.

Jerusalem was put on the brink of greater violence at the Jerusalem Day celebrations on Monday, when Israel remembered the 1967 capture of the Holy City, the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War.

Although relatively peaceful in the rest of the country, it is a point of contact between the Arabs and right-wing settlers every year, sheltered by police through East Jerusalem and marching to the Western Wall in the Muslim quarter of the old city. Police are considering reducing the march, local media reported.