ISRAELI POLICE ROUND UP 8 PALESTINIANS OVER JERUSALEM STABBING

Al-Quds (Occupied Jerusallem), 20 Rabiul Awwal 1436/11 January 2015 (MINA) –  Israeli police detained at least seven Palestinians in a series of raids in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem late Thursday and early Friday in the hours after a 21-year-old Israeli Jewish man was stabbed while walking nearby.

Israeli police swarmed the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City and conducted body searches among Palestinian residents, setting up checkpoints at the Damascus, Lion’s and Herod’s Gates, and preventing locals from freely moving without showing identification, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Israeli media said Friday that a 15-year-old Palestinian boy had been detained by police for the crime, and that he had been transferred to Israeli intelligence services for interrogation.

The 15-year-old was one of at least seven Palestinians detained by Israeli forces, who locals said “deliberately” provoked local youths by holding them for hours and subjecting them to invasive searches.

Director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Jerusalem, Nasser Qawwas, identified three of the seven detained youths as Muhammad Hijazi, Muhammad Miswadda, and Khalid al-Qawasmi. It was unclear if the youth suspected of involvement in the stabbing was one of the seven or was arrested separately.

Clashes also erupted between youths and Israeli border guards in the al-Saadiya neighborhood in the Old City as soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets injuring several youths. They also reportedly physically assaulted a number of youths.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld refused to comment on any arrests Thursday, but said that the Old City was calm on Friday. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)