AMMAN: Despite calls from the international community for an end to the hostilities between Israeli security forces and Palestinians, clashes continued in Jerusalem on Monday, with violence erupting at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, for the second day in a row.

Over 300 people have reportedly been injured, with the Red Crescent saying half a dozen Palestinians are in a critical condition.

On Friday, May 7, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on both sides to show restraint, saying Washington was “extremely concerned about ongoing confrontations in Jerusalem, including on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and in Sheikh Jarrah,” condemning an attack on Israeli soldiers and “reciprocal attacks on Palestinians.”

US-based outlet Axios, meanwhile, said the White House had pressed Israel to restrain Monday’s planned Jerusalem Day celebrations, marking the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, so as not to stoke further tension in the city, but that Israel had rebuffed these advances.

Former Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi challenged the US and European leaders to “grow a backbone” and “translate their words into action,” over restraining Israel against Palestinian worshippers.

She said: “Americans must learn to grow a backbone and work hard to enforce their position and to use their financial and political power. This is not a big deal to ask to ensure freedom of religion.

“This is the language that the Israelis understand; if they are being rewarded, nothing will happen,” she continued. “There has to be a cost and this is a test of the Biden administration. Americans must say enough is enough.”

Ashrawi added that what is happening is a “crime” and a clear case of multiple human rights violations, including targeting civilians, vandalizing holy sites, and using excessive power against worshipers.

Protests at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, meanwhile, drew the presence of right-wing Israeli members of the Knesset and a large number of Palestinians and their supporters.

The UN secretary-general and senior world leaders were among those to condemn the violence, and express their concerns over the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.

Jordan summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires in Amman, and threatened to recall its ambassador in Tel Aviv. There were also loud demonstrations outside the Embassy of Israel in Jordan calling for its closure.

Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Arab News that Jerusalem is the symbol of the Palestinian cause.

“The reunification of the homeland and its national institutions requires the full (cooperation) of all Palestinians regardless of where they are,” said Fayad.

“Such reaction is the strongest response to the Israeli aggression and the terror of its army and settlers against our holy places and our people in Jerusalem,” he added.

Fayyad continued that the basic right of people to live in their homes and homeland was fundamental “to allow our people to extract their right to self-determination.”

Hazem Kawasmi, a Jerusalem civil society activist, told Arab News that what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah was the continuation of the last 70 years of evictions of Palestinians from their homes and land across the country.

“Trying to evict 28 families from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah is a clear case that (shows) the Israeli apartheid regime and transfer policy to implement their ‘Judaizing’ of the city, emptying it of its indigenous Palestinian population,” Kawasmi said.

“Not surprisingly, the international community are watching and doing nothing to stop the rogue state of Israel from practicing its ethnic cleansing policies.”

There are fears that Israel’s actions in Jerusalem could also provoke wider problems beyond the city. Senior Hamas figure Salah Aruri warned that “by playing with fire in Jerusalem, the occupiers (Israel) will witness a burning response on their heads.”

WASHINGTON:  A US Coast Guard cutter fired two volleys of warning shots Monday as a group of 13 Iranian fast boats sped toward US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz in what the Pentagon called “unsafe and unprofessional” maneuvers by the naval arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the Iranian vessels maneuvered at high speed toward six Navy ships that were escorting the guided missile submarine USS Georgia through the Strait. After the Coast Guard cutter Maui unleashed a second volley of warning shots, the Iranian boats backed off, Kirby said.
“They were acting very aggressively,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. He said they got within 150 yards of the US ships, which included the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey. A day earlier, the Monterey had intercepted an arms shipment aboard a dhow in the Arabian Sea apparently headed for Yemen, whose Houthi rebels are supported by Iran.
Kirby said the Maui fired two rounds of warning shots from its .50-caliber machine gun — the first round when the Iranian boats got to within 300 yards of the US ships, and the second when they got within 150 yards.
“After the second round of warning shots the 13 fast attack craft from the IRGC-N broke contact,” he said, ending the encounter.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday named Richard Norland, US ambassador to Libya, as the US special envoy for the country, the US State Department said, to lead diplomatic efforts for a negotiated political solution in the North African country.
The appointment comes as the Presidency Council, which functions as Libya’s head of state for now, was chosen through a United Nations-facilitated process that also selected a new Government of National Unity that took office in March, replacing rival administrations in east and west.

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities appear set to re-route the traditional Jerusalem Unity Day parade which has been known to be provocative and anti-Arab.

Israeli media reported that security officials on Sunday urged the government to rethink the annual event, a flag-waving display of Israeli claims to all of the contested city set to take place Monday, following days of unrest and Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the capital.

Ynet reported that Israeli security officials “called for the government to reconsider the route, the number of marchers, and even the event itself.”

Persistent and widespread protests in Jerusalem have brought worldwide condemnation of Israel, and the security establishment appears to have won the day in pressing right-wing politicians to lower tensions.

Protests continued in the Old City and in the streets of East Jerusalem, with Red Crescent officials reporting injuries and saying that Israeli police were obstructing their work.

Parades are also scheduled to coincide with an Israeli court decision about an appeal request against eviction orders for Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Tens of thousands of people, including many Palestinian citizens of Israel, flooded Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque to commemorate the holy night of Laylat Al-Qadar, the first revelation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad.

Most people have vowed to stay in Al-Aqsa to protect it from public calls from Jewish extremist groups.

The mosque’s preacher Ekrima Sabri said that what happened on Monday would depend on the occupiers.

“For our part, we  are holding onto our mosque and our faith and will defend it until the last breath,” he told Arab News.

Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, the former president of Al-Quds University, said what was happening in the city was a wake-up call.

“Events in Jerusalem have reminded Israel and the rest of the world that peace with the continued occupation is impossible, as is Israeli sovereignty over Arab Jerusalem,” he told Arab News. “Palestinians will not disappear with the passing of time, nor will justice. Israel will not have a future if it continues to trample on Palestinian rights and their national and religious sites and symbols.”

Ahmad Budeiri, Al-Ghad TV reporter in Jerusalem, summarized the situation as favoring the Palestinians in the short-term as long as the protests on the ground kept the pressure on.

“There is no doubt that the protests in Jerusalem and the persistence of Jerusalemites to defended their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and their holy places is what moved the international community as well as the Israeli security forces and to react,” said Ahmad Budeiri.

But it might be a temporary victory because the overall strategy of the Israelis would not be easily changed, he added.

In Amman, there were protests calling on the government to close down the Israeli embassy in Jordan and to recall the Jordanian ambassador from Tel Aviv.

The Arab League has agreed to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the issues around Jerusalem, including the Israeli attacks against worshippers in Al-Aqsa and Israeli plans to evict Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah.

In Kuwait, football players wore the Palestinian keffiyeh as a sign of support for the people of Jerusalem.

Luis Miguel Bueno, an EU diplomat who is the bloc’s official Arabic spokesman, condemned the attacks and the incitement against the faithful.

“The occupation forces must respect its obligations according to international law,” he tweeted in Arabic. “We call for the immediate de-escalation. East Jerusalem is part of the occupied territories for which international humanitarian law applies.”

The Jerusalem Waqf Council called on people to stay overnight at Al-Aqsa as a precaution to ensure that radical Jewish groups would be deterred from entering the mosque.

It promised to provide iftar and suhoor to all free of charge.

AL-MUKALLA: Iran-backed Houthis have defied US and UN calls to halt their deadly offensive on Yemen’s central city of Marib by drumming up supporters to join the battlefields.

A day after the US slammed the militia for snubbing the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths in Muscat and refusing to halt their military operations, Mohammed Ali Al-Houthis, the president of the militia’s supreme revolutionary committee, said on Twitter that the movement would continue reinforcing the battlefields with new fighters and equipment and would keep fighting until they outright defeat their opponents. 

Thousands of rebel fighters and government troops have been killed in fierce fighting since February, when the Houthis renewed a major offensive to seize control of Marib, the government’s last stronghold in the country’s north.

Local and international aid organizations and officials warned that the Houthi invasion of Marib would trigger a displacement that would fuel the humanitarian crisis, as the city hosts more than 2 million people who have already fled fighting and Houthi suppression.

Briefing the Yemeni Cabinet on the military situation during an online meeting on Saturday, Defense Minister Mohammed Al-Maqdishi said that the Houthis suffered “big” losses in fighters and equipment and the Yemeni Army and allied tribesmen took the initiative on the battlefields and foiled many “suicidal” assaults on Marib, the official news agency SABA reported.

The cabinet urged the international community to take a “firm and clear” stand against the Houthis’ repeated rejection of peace initiatives and their determination to worsen the humanitarian crisis.

“Hazy positions would push this militia and its supporters in Tehran into increasing the suffering (of Yemenis) and the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen,” the Cabinet said in a statement.

Last week, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi dispatched Prime Minister Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed to Marib in a show of support to government forces. 

Saeed was ordered to increase military support to the army and tribesmen who are battling the Houthis close to the city.

At the same time, government officials and activists have launched on Sunday an online campaign in support of government troops battling the Houthis in Marib.

“We call on all Yemenis from all walks of life and political and social groups to participate in the media campaign to support the steadfastness of the heroes of the National Army and the Popular Resistance and the tribes on various fronts in Marib province,” Muammar Al-Eryani, minister of information, culture and tourism, said in a Twitter post.