Police arrest seven amid rioting in Arab town of Umm al-Fahm

Police arrested seven people in Umm al-Fahm Friday night suspected of participating in rioting.

The unrest included attempts to block roads in the northern Arab town and saw protesters fire fireworks and hurl stones at cops.

The seven suspects were taken for questioning. Three of them are minors.

Early Friday saw massive unrest in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Dozens of young people began marching in the area before dawn on Friday. Some bore the Palestinian flag, while others carried green banners associated with the Hamas terror group, according to police. The marchers threw stones and set off fireworks, while stockpiling rocks and other objects to prepare for further clashes.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount, due to reports of plans by Jewish extremists to perform a Passover animal sacrifice at the site.

Israeli authorities insisted that they would not allow such a ceremony to take place and arrested several suspects on Thursday and Friday in order to ensure as much.

אום אל פחם, רוב המפגינים התפזרו לאחר משמרת מחאה כנגד פלישת כוחות הביטחון למסגד אל אקצא בירושלים. כמה צעירים חסמו את הכביש הראשי והתחילו ליידות אבנים לעבר כוחות המשטרה מה שגרם לעימותים ושימוש באמצעי פיזור. pic.twitter.com/pDkVgByI66

— Yanal Jabarin ينال جبارين | ינאל ג׳בארין (@JbareenYanal) April 15, 2022

Police said they waited for morning prayers to end before entering the Temple Mount to disperse the rioters, and that some of them threw stones at the Western Wall below. Some Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, hurling stones toward officers. Three officers were lightly hurt after being pelted with stones, two of whom required medical treatment.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency group reported 158 people were hurt in the clashes. It said the vast majority were treated at East Jerusalem’s al-Makassed Hospital or at a field hospital set up by medics, without giving details on the nature of the injuries. In footage from the police raid circulated on social media, officers could be seen hitting some Palestinians with clubs for no apparent reason.

A police source quoted by the Kan public broadcaster said some 400 people were arrested.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a situational assessment with police chiefs on Friday morning, during which he said security forces were “working to calm tensions on the Temple Mount as well as throughout Israel, and we are preparing for any scenario,” according to a statement from his office.

Later in the day, Friday afternoon prayers concluded without incident.

But police conduct against the protesters enraged Israel’s Mideast neighbors, with Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all issuing statements of fierce condemnation.

The UN, EU and the US were all more measured in their responses, instead focusing on calling for calm and urging the parties to act with restraint.

At 4 p.m. on Friday, the IDF’s closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip for Palestinians went into effect. The policy is standard for holidays, but the Defense Ministry said it would reevaluate the situation on Saturday evening, possibly lifting the lockdown then instead of maintaining it for the entire week-long holiday.