Dozens of Jewish teenagers from the extreme right last night pushed through police barricades to gain entry to Jabel Mukkaber, in East Jerusalem. They threw rocks at homes in the Arab village, smashing windows and damaging solar water heaters. Villagers threw rocks back at the assailants.
Police arrested 24 demonstrators, including one carrying a long knife. One police officer sustained minor injuries.
The incident followed a demonstration, at the Haas Promenade in Armon Hanatziv, of hundreds of Jewish teens and right-wing activists, demanding the demolition of the Jabel Mukaber home of the family of Alaa Abu Dhaim, who killed eight students at the capital's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva 11 days ago.
The demonstration was organized by extra-parliamentary right-wing groups including Komemiyut and Women in Green, and was attended by settlers from the West Bank and former Kach movement activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir. Students from Mercaz Harav did not take part.
Calls for revenge and cries of "Death to Arabs" were voiced, and twice demonstrators tried but failed to breach police barricades.
The rabbi of Elon Moreh, Elyakim Levanon, called on the government to destroy Abu Dhaim's home. "It must be done in an official manner, by the state," he said. Hecklers responded: "The state won't do anything, we'll do it."
Dozens of demonstrators then ran toward the nearby restaurant and down the steep slope toward Jabel Mukkaber, joining up with a second group that had entered the village from a different direction.
The confrontation between the demonstrators and villagers went on for about half an hour until police succeeded in driving the demonstrators out.
