Today, Thursday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested five Palestinian citizens from separate parts of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, while a comprehensive strike took place in Jabal Al Mukaber neighborhood in Jerusalem, in response to a call from the people to close shops and disrupt all aspects of life, in protest against the retaliatory demolitions carried out by the occupation in the neighborhood.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said that the campaign of arrests and raids in the West Bank also included the town of Tammun, south of Tubas (north), the city of Yatta, south of Hebron Governorate, and the town of Issawiya, east of Jerusalem.

The occupation forces also stormed Husan village, west of Bethlehem, and confiscated a vehicle belonging to a citizen.

Al-Jazeera correspondent stated that clashes broke out in the Jabal Al-Mukaber neighborhood this morning between the occupation forces and Palestinian youths.

Palestinians closed some of the entrances to the neighborhood with burning rubber tires and containers. In recent days, the neighborhood has witnessed the demolition of homes and public facilities, in implementation of the decisions of the Security Council, which was convened last Saturday, in response to the two armed operations carried out by Palestinians in Jerusalem last weekend.

And Palestinian media reported that the strike paralyzed all aspects of life in the town, including schools and the commercial sector.

Palestinian platforms broadcast video clips on the communication sites documenting the burning of tires in the middle of the roads and the closure of the entrances to the town, amid calls for the commitment of the people to strike in conjunction with the storming of the occupation forces.

The extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, had issued instructions to initiate and accelerate house demolitions in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of not having a permit.


Calls for calm

These field developments come after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken - on the sidelines of his ongoing visit to the region - called on the Israelis and Palestinians to take immediate steps to stop the escalation.

Blinken said - in his tweet early Tuesday morning - that he held a fruitful meeting with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, where the two sides discussed bilateral relations and the United States' commitment to Israel's security and confronting Iran, and the need for calm in the West Bank.

Blinken stated that he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, and that the meeting included a discussion of the "strong relationship" between the United States and Israel, as well as the files of Iran and the West Bank.

Yesterday, Monday, Blinken held a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in occupied Jerusalem, where he said that "anything that takes us away from the two-state solution will undermine Israel's long-term security," stressing at the same time the need to preserve the status quo in the holy sites in Jerusalem. .

The US secretary stressed that his country's commitment to Israel's security is stronger than ever and will never change, saying that they are working to deepen the "Abraham Accords" to enhance Israel's security in the region, referring to the normalization agreements between Israel and the countries of the region.

Today, Blinken will head to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the end of his diplomatic tour. He is expected to urge Abbas once again to make more efforts to stop attacks on Israelis, in the wake of the Palestinian Authority stopping security coordination with Israel following the bloody operation that he carried out. by the Israeli army in Jenin camp last Thursday.

On the other hand, the Palestinian government said that the measures and threats that Israel is taking aim at undermining the Palestinian Authority and breaking the will of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, called on the countries of the world and the US administration to condemn the statements of Israeli officials, which call for committing more crimes by encouraging them to take up arms, and to establish binding mechanisms that provide protection for the Palestinians.