Last update - 00:00 03/03/2008
Four Palestinians arrested after attacking police officers in E. Jerusalem
By Jonathan Lis and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Four Palestinians were arrested Monday evening after attacking two Israeli traffic police officers in their police car in East Jerusalem.
The two officers managed to get away after being under attack for a full minute.
The police officers arrived at the scene earlier to maintain order at a demonstration staged by some 100 Palestinian youths, which had turned violent. The police officers had apparently failed to coordinate their arrival with their superiors, despite the fact that there had been several stone throwing incidents in the area in recent days in which Israeli troops and civilians had been hurt.
Since Sunday, many demonstrations have been held in protest of the fighting in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces has launched a series of strikes against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since Wednesday, in efforts to stem the escalating rocket fire on southern Israel towns, leaving over 100 Palestinians dead.
Earlier Monday, an IDF officer and a soldier were lightly wounded when demonstrators hurled rocks at them near the West Bank cities of Qalqiliya and Nablus. Two Israeli civilians were also hurt as rocks were thrown at their vehicles.
On Sunday, West Bank residents staged several violent protests against the IDF operation in Gaza. In a demonstration near the village Beit Awa in Mount Hebron on Sunday, IDF troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian after he tried to cut the separation fence in the area. Four soldiers and an Israeli civilian were lightly hurt in the incident from rocks.
The IDF attributes the violent protests to the strong solidarity felt by West Bank residents for Gazans. Most of the West Bank protests were in the area of Hebron and East Jerusalem, and in some of the protests, the demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs at IDF troops. One of the protesters was shot in the leg Sunday west of Jerusalem, and was then arrested.
In East Jerusalem, store owners closed down their shops and protest processions were held. The Police arrested several Palestinians who threw rocks at tourists on the Temple Mount, and two others were arrested on suspicion that they had threatened shop owners that were open for business.
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