ULTRA-ORTHODOX demonstrators, angry over the Jerusalem municipality decision to open a car park on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, closed a number of streets yesterday, on the third consecutive day of religious protests in Israel’s capital.
The fiercest clashes occurred on Saturday after the opening of the Carta parking lot opposite Jerusalem’s walled Old City, to accommodate the thousands of Israeli and foreign tourists who visit the area every weekend.
Police arrested 57 protesters as tens of thousands of ultra-orthodox residents burned rubbish bins and threw rocks, bottles and soiled nappies at the police.
One protester was seriously hurt when he fell from a fence. Five police officers were injured as the police charged protesters attempting to reach the disputed parking lot.
The protesters managed to block off a number of roads in religious neighbourhoods, shattering Jerusalem’s delicate status quo.
Religious Jews abstain from any activity that may be considered work on the Jewish Sabbath, the day of rest, which begins at sundown Friday evening and ends Saturday night.
Observant Jews refrain from driving, and some religious Jews complained that the opening of the parking lot would force others to work on the Sabbath.
Jerusalem’s secular mayor Nir Barkat, who was elected in a close vote last year, claimed he was acting on police advice to ease the heavy traffic congestion over the weekend and prevent a possible security threat. More than a thousand secular Jerusalemites rallied in support of the mayor, protesting against attempts by the ultra-orthodox to close down the city on Saturdays.
Labor party parliamentarian Ophir Pines called on the government to back the mayor and the police, warning that “Jerusalem must not be turned into Tehran.”
Meanwhile, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak travels to Washington today for talks with US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell. Mr Mitchell was scheduled to meet in Paris last week with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu but the talks were postponed because the sides failed to reach a compromise on the question of West Bank settlement construction.
Barack Obama has insisted on a total cessation to all building on Jewish settlements, rejecting the Israeli argument that some building must continue to accommodate “natural population growth”.
Ahead of Mr Barak’s departure, Israeli officials denied media reports that he would propose a temporary, three-month settlement construction freeze.
Israel has already promised not to build any new settlements, not to expropriate additional Palestinian land and to dismantle smaller West Bank outposts.
Washington is keen to see a resumption of peace talks on the Israeli-Palestinian track, and earlier this month Mr Netanyahu declared that Israel would support a demilitarised Palestinian state under certain conditions.
However, the Palestinians have linked a renewal of negotiations with a total settlement freeze.