JERUSALEM: A Jewish settlement guard shot dead a Palestinian in the volatile annexed Arab east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Wednesday as rocks were being hurled at his car, police said.
Another two Palestinians were wounded as “a guard responsible for protecting Jewish residents of the neighbourhood opened fire with his pistol after his car was attacked with stones,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
The guard opened fire as his car was stopped at a barricade Palestinians had set up. He was detained for questioning, Rosenfeld added.
The man killed was identified as Samir Serhan. Rosenfeld said he had been detained in the past for “participation in unrest.”
Clashes erupted between residents and police after the shooting, leaving several Palestinians wounded.
Police fired rubber-coated bullets and teargas at rock-throwing Palestinian protesters.
Silwan, a crowded Arab neighbourhood of 12,000, where a few dozen Jewish families also live, is one of the most volatile areas of east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Plans to demolish Palestinian homes to make way for an archaeological park have triggered violent protests in the past.
The Jerusalem city council gave the green light in June for the controversial project which would be under the control of Elad, a group dedicated to expanding Jewish ownership in east Jerusalem.
Under the plan, 22 homes would be razed, while another 66 would be legalised.
The park is planned on what is believed to be the site of ancient Jerusalem during the reigns of the biblical kings David and Solomon.
Wednesday’s shooting highlighted the challenges Israeli and Palestinian negotiators face in peace talks which resumed on September 2 after a 20-month hiatus.
The issue of settlements has been one of the thorniest in peace efforts.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, to be illegal.
The Palestinians want a freeze on all settlement construction but are also pushing for a renewal of a partial moratorium on settlement building that will end within days, even though the curbs do not cover east Jerusalem.
Jerusalem does not consider Jewish residents of east Jerusalem to be settlers as it views the whole of the Holy City as its “eternal and indivisible capital.” — AFP
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