Friday, July 4, 2014

Crowds flock to Jerusalem funeral for Palestinian teenager

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Mohammed Abu Khdair through the streets

Mourners have carried the body of a murdered Palestinian teenager through East Jerusalem amid huge crowds and tight security ahead of his funeral.
Mohammad Abu Khdair's family believe he was killed in revenge for the murders of three young Israelis in June. Police have not yet established a motive.
His funeral has now taken place near the family's home in Shuafat district.
Elsewhere in East Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinian youths clashed with police. No injuries were reported.
The funeral comes amid heightened tension between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip.
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Earlier on Friday Hamas said it was ready to halt its rocket attacks on southern Israel if the Israel military ceased its air raids against the Palestinian territory.
A Hamas source said Egyptian intelligence officials had brokered a potential ceasefire, but rockets and mortars continued to hit Israel, and Israel fired artillery shells into Gaza - although the intensity of attacks by both sides lessened.
Mohammed Abu Khdair, shown in an undated family photo, was seen being forced into a car

His grieving mother was helped through the crowds at his funeral

Palestinian youths have clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem for three consecutive days

Israeli officials handed the body of Mohammad Abu Khdair over to his family on Friday. It was said to be badly burnt following his abduction and murder, slowing the identification process and preventing the family from burying him on Thursday in line with Islamic tradition.
Shrouded in a Palestinian flag, it was borne aloft by mourners through the streets of East Jerusalem after the first Friday prayer services of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
line
At the scene: Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Jerusalem
In both communities in this deeply divided and sharply polarised city there was a widespread expectation that the funeral of Mohammad Abu Khdair would be a flashpoint between Palestinian protestors and the Israeli security forces.
So it proved.
Minutes after Friday prayers ended, the streets of districts like Shufat and Beit Hanina began to fill as worshippers poured out of the mosques.
Young men in masks could be seen striding purposefully towards the front through groups of slower-moving mourners.
Mohammad Abu Khdair's body was carried in open-topped coffin decorated with the Palestinian flag through cheering crowds. In the chants, he was described as a martyr.
The Israeli police have held back from the event in Shuafat, effectively setting up a cordon a short distance away to pen the protests into one area of Arab East Jerusalem.
The potential for further confrontation remains on a day of extraordinary tension here.
line
A major Israeli security operation was launched in East Jerusalem after two previous days of clashes there between masked Palestinian youths and Israeli police.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers had clashed on Friday with hundreds of Palestinians in Ras al-Amud and Wadi Joz.
Mohammad Abu Khdair was seen being forced into a car in Shufat, East Jerusalem, early on Wednesday and his body was later found in West Jerusalem.
It comes after the bodies of the three Israeli seminary students were found near the city of Hebron on Monday, two-and-a-half weeks after they were abducted. Their funerals took place on Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed their deaths on Hamas and called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to abandon a reconciliation deal his Fatah movement had struck with the group. Hamas has denied any involvement in the murders.
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Israel-Gaza tensions
  • 2005: Israel pulls settlers and troops out of Gaza, which it had occupied since 1967. Palestinian Authority assumes administrative control. Israel still controls Gaza's airspace and seafront
  • Gaza rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes continue
  • Jan 2006: Hamas wins Palestinian elections, heads unity government; Israel imposes economic sanctions on Palestinian Authority
  • June 2006: Hamas kidnaps Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in cross-border raid (Shalit is released in 2011 in exchange for hundreds of prisoners) - Israel launches first ground invasion of Gaza since its withdrawal
  • Nov 2006: Gaza ceasefire declared
  • Jun 2007: Hamas ousts rival Fatah from Gaza Strip; Israel intensifies restrictions on Gaza, in what becomes known as its blockade
  • Feb-March 2008: Israeli three-day operation in Gaza to stop rocket fire
  • Dec 2008-Jan 2009: Three-week conflict between Gaza militants and Israel
  • Nov 2012: Eight-day Israeli offensive against Gaza to stop rocket fire; ends with ceasefire
  • Sporadic rocket fire and air strikes continue, intensifying in June 2014.

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