Saturday, July 26, 2014

Israel-Gaza conflict: Hamas Calls For 'Third Intifada' After Violent Rebellions in Jerusalem and West Bank
Palestinians resist Israeli occupation.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority call for "day of rage" over Israeli assault on Gaza after two Palestinians killed in overnight riots north of Jerusalem

By Inna Lazareva, Tel Aviv
Telegraph.UK
9:30AM BST 25 Jul 2014

Hamas leaders, both in Gaza and abroad, have called for the start of the third intifada - or Palestinian uprising - after violent riots with live fire erupted throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank last night.

Violence flared up as thousands of Palestinians took to the streets, rioting and protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Approximately 10,000 people marched from Ramallah to Jerusalem, where they clashed with Israeli police.

Two Palestinians were killed and approximately 200 were injured when protests turned violent near the Qalandiya checkpoint, just north of Jerusalem. In East Jerusalem and the Old City, 40 rioters were arrested.

“Ambulances continued to bring wounded Palestinians from Qalandiyah checkpoint to the Ramallah Government Hospital until 1.00am Friday, about three-and-a-half hours after the demonstrations began”, Israeli daily Haaretz reports.

“This is your opportunity”, said Husham Badran, Hamas spokesman based in Qatar, responding to the clashes.

In Gaza, Hamas TV played pro-intifada songs, while the group, together with the Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority called for ‘a day of rage’ to begin after Friday prayers, in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

There have been more or less constant riots in Jerusalem and the West Bank following the kidnapping and murder of the Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair by Jewish extremists last month. The circumstances of the current uprisings bear considerable similarity to the riots that pre-empted the start of the first intifada in the late 1980s.

The incendiary atmosphere comes amid a backdrop of an Israeli cabinet meeting scheduled for later today, where a decision will be taken whether or not to accept the 5-day ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hamas.

By contrast to the events in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Thursday night was considerably calmer for the residents of Israel’s south, with fewer rockets being fired.

In Gaza, over 800 people have been killed, and many thousands have been injured, displaced and rendered homeless since the beginning of the violence over three weeks ago.

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