Palestinians and Israeli troops clashed on the edge of Jerusalem for a second day yesterday after the funeral of a protester killed the previous day.
Millions of martyrs will march on Jerusalem
“Rocks, fire bombs and burning tyres were hurled at soldiers,” a military statement said. “After exhausting all other means, rubber pellets were used.”
At least nine Palestinians were injured in the clashes following the funeral in the West Bank neighbourhood of Al-Ram, adjacent to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, an AFP photographer reported.
About 2,000 mourners, some firing automatic rifles into the air, marched with the body of Talaat Abdel-Rahman Ramiya, 23, who was killed on Friday by the army in Al-Ram.
That clash was one of a string between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters angry over violence in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Mourners carrying Palestinian flags and banners of the Fatah movement of president Mahmud Abbas yesterday escorted Ramiya’s body to a cemetery in Al-Ram, a few hundred metres north of the Jerusalem city limits.
“Millions of martyrs will march on Jerusalem,” they chanted.
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad condemned the killing of Ramiya. “The Israeli government bears full responsibility for this crime,” he said in a statement, adding that the international community’s lack of pressure on Israel made it complicit in the violence.
“The international community’s silence... contributed to further Israeli undermining of our people’s lives and committing this crime.
“This situation gives the international community direct responsibility for the continuation of such attacks,” it said.
Unrest broke out on Friday in Al-Ram as stone-throwers battled Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa compound and neighbouring districts.
The army said a soldier apparently opened fire with live ammunition, hitting Ramiya in the shoulder. “An initial investigation suggests that a Palestinian man fired fireworks at soldiers from several metres away, putting the soldiers’ lives in danger,” a spokesman said.
“The soldier responded by firing, injuring the Palestinian in his shoulder.”