Security forces disperse rioters in East Jerusalem

Several dozen Palestinians hurled firecrackers and launched a Molotov cocktail Tuesday evening at police and Border Police officers in Isawiyah, a Palestinian neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem.

There were no injuries reported and security forces dispersed the rioters without incident.

Separately, several Molotov cocktails were thrown at Beit Yehonatan, a contested building in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Here too, no injuries were reported. Security forces were searching for the perpetrators.

Beit Yehonatan — named for US-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard — is a building owned by a Jewish foundation to which stories have been added without a proper building permit. It became a flashpoint for protests since 2010 when then interior minister Eli Yishai tried to retroactively legalize parts of the building.

Security forces have been on a high alert for disturbances and possible terror attacks since the fatal arson attack on July 31 in the West Bank village of Duma, in which a Palestinian baby, Ali Saad Dawabsha, was killed when his family home was firebombed. His parents and four-year-old brother were all severely burned and the family’s father died from his injuries on Saturday. The toddler’s mother, Rahim, and brother, Ahmed, are being treated at the Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv.

The perpetrators of the attack have not been apprehended; they are believed to be Jewish terrorists.