Israeli forces disperse peaceful rally in Sheikh Jarrah

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM — (AA) Israeli forces on Thursday dispersed dozens of Palestinians taking part in a peaceful rally in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, east of occupied Jerusalem.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli forces put out fire lit by the residents and activists to warm themselves while closing the neighborhood with iron barriers.

The sit-in by local residents was triggered after the right-wing Israeli lawmaker Ben Gvir on Sunday set up a tent on private Palestinian land in the neighborhood as his office.

Ben Gvir was accompanied by dozens of Israeli settlers who hurled stones at Palestinian homes in the neighborhood sparking confrontations between the Palestinians on the one hand, and the settlers and the Israeli police on the other.

Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have complained of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers, who reside next to them in homes taken from Palestinians over past years.

Last year, tensions ran high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of several Palestinian families in favor of Israeli settlers.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara