The Israeli Occupation Police announced that it had arrested 15 Palestinians after clashes between security forces and demonstrators against the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem.

Last night, the neighborhood witnessed new confrontations between Palestinians and the Israeli police forces, after settlers attacked Palestinians, who were protesting against Israeli court decisions to evacuate Palestinian families from their homes in the neighborhood.

Police said in a statement that the protesters "threw stones and attacked civilians and law enforcement officials and set a car on fire."

The clashes erupted on Thursday evening in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, amid an intense legal battle over the fate of Palestinian families threatening to evacuate in favor of settlers.

The deputy of the far-right "Religious Zionism" party, Itamar Bin Ghafir, went to Sheikh Jarrah a few hours after the Supreme Court set a date for a new hearing Monday in the case of families threatened with eviction, to support a family of settlers by repeating the phrase "This house is ours" in Hebrew.

Palestinians threw projectiles at a tent set up by settlers in front of a house and exchanged insults with MP Bin Ghafir.

Earlier this year, the Israeli Central Court in Occupied Jerusalem ruled to evacuate 4 homes inhabited by Palestinians who had contracts given by the Jordanian authorities that ran East Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, proving their ownership of real estate in the neighborhood.

The court's decision angered the Palestinians, who challenged it, and their protests often led to clashes with the Israeli police, who beat the protesters.

On the other hand, the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said that, on Friday, the Israeli police arrested Raed Zughair, head of the cleaning department at Al-Aqsa Mosque, without giving reasons.

Occupation allegations

For more than a week, the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood has witnessed near-night confrontations between the Israeli police and the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood, and in solidarity with them.

Palestinians are protesting against decisions issued by Israeli courts to evacuate Palestinian families from homes built in 1956.

Settler associations claim that the homes were built on land that was owned by Jews before 1948.

On Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court was scheduled to issue a final decision regarding the evacuation of 4 Palestinian families from the neighborhood in favor of settlers claiming ownership of the land, but it announced a new session next Monday.

So far, 12 Palestinian families in the neighborhood have received eviction decisions issued by the Israeli "reconciliation" and "central" courts.

Jordan's position

For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi described Israel's deportation of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem as a crime that the world must prevent.

Safadi said that Israel's continued illegal practices and provocations in Jerusalem played a dangerous game with fire.

He stressed that Jerusalemites threatened with deportation from their homes are the legitimate owners of them, according to documents Jordan delivered to the Palestinians.

Warnings

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in the Palestinian Gaza Strip warned, Thursday, that it would respond to the Israeli violations in the "Sheikh Jarrah" neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem.

The brigades, which represent the military wing of the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine", said in a statement, "To the enemy (Israel), we say do not test the patience of our fighters and the resistance is lying in wait for you."

"We are following closely and with great interest what is happening against our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem and the attempts to impose new facts there," she added, warning the occupation against continuing its follies.

This morning, thousands of Palestinians performed dawn prayers at the blessed Al Aqsa in preparation to perform the last Friday prayers of the month of Ramadan at the Holy Mosque.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that a large crowd of worshipers chanted slogans for the end of the prayer, praising the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and its leader, Muhammad al-Deif.

This is not the first time that Palestinians have chanted in Jerusalem in the name of the guest and the "Qassam".

The guest’s name was previously chanted in the squares of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Bab al-Amud area, one of the gates of the Old City.

And the guest had warned in a brief written statement, Israel, of the consequences of undertaking the evacuation of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.