Israel arrests dozens of Arabs over Jerusalem protests

By Abdelraouf Arna'out
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli police said Tuesday that 98 Arab Israelis were arrested in connection with protests against Israeli policies in Jerusalem.

A police statement said that 67 people were arrested in northern Israel for suspicion of arson attacks and stone-throwing.

Thirty-one of Arab Israelis -- Palestinians living inside Israel -- were also arrested in southern the country for allegedly disrupting public order and stone-throwing, the police said in another statement.

On Sunday, thousands of Arab Israelis demonstrated in the northern cities of Haifa, Nazareth, Shfaram and Tira.

According to the Times of Israel daily, the protesters blocked main roads and, in Nazareth, set trash cans ablaze in the middle of the street. In Haifa, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the city’s main thoroughfare to the city’s German Colony neighborhood.

The participants sang “My Homeland,” an unofficial pan-Arab anthem, chanted slogans and waved Palestinian flags. “From Sheikh Jarrah to Silwan, we want to end settlements,” demonstrators called.

Violence flared in the Palestinian territories on Sunday after Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and attacked Palestinian worshippers inside the holy site. More than 300 Palestinians were injured in Israeli attacks inside the flashpoint complex.

The violence came amid calls by extremist Jews for storming Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the anniversary of the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, as "Jerusalem Day" according to the Hebrew calendar.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara