JERUSALEM, Israeli settlers led by supremacist lawmakers and backed and protected by a large Israeli occupation police force today broke into Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, provoked the Palestinian civilian residents and attacked them, according to witnesses.

Two radical Israeli lawmakers arrived at the neighborhood in a provocative move, only a day after the Israeli High Court postponed a decision on the eviction of four Palestinian families from their homes for the benefit of the settlers, and provoked the local residents.

As the residents and supporters confronted them and the settlers that came with them, the police intervened to help the settlers and attacked the Palestinians, causing injury and arresting some.

One resident said the police attacked him when he tried to prevent the settlers from breaking into his home, injuring him in the face.

Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood has been very tense in the last weeks following concern of forcible eviction of the Palestinian residents in order to turn over their homes to Jewish settlers.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency