Palestinian activists and police clash in Jerusalem. The Islamist Ra’am party is suspending its work in Israel’s coalition in protest.
Jerusalem. Easter days in the Holy Land have been overshadowed by massive violence this year. As hundreds of Christians marched through the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, carrying heavy wooden crosses on their shoulders and huddled in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, ugly scenes unfolded within minutes on foot. Palestinians and Israeli police clashed outside the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, which Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.
The Islamic fasting month, Ramadan, began in early April – a time of increasing tension in recent years. While tens of thousands of Muslims, many of them from the West Bank, have been praying peacefully at the al-Aqsa mosque in recent days, some Palestinians are apparently deliberately preparing for a confrontation with the police: several videos published in traditional and social newspapers. hooded youths stacking stones on top of each other in the mosque, setting off fireworks in the churchyard and attacking police with projectiles.