Clashes in Tel Aviv as police attempt to dismantle tents (Pertempuran di Tel Aviv sebagai polis cuba untuk membuka khemah-khemah)

REVIEW 2012: Israel, Holob: Municipality inspectors, accompanied by a large police force, dismantle improvised wooden structures that were built by activists at the social protest encampment in the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv on September 7, 2011 (Israel, Holob: Majlis Perbandaran inspektor, yang diiringi oleh pasukan polis yang besar, hapus struktur kayu improvisasi yang telah dibina oleh aktivis di perkhemahan protes sosial di bandar Holon, selatan Tel Aviv pada September 7, 2011)

Penunjuk perasaan marah di Israel telah bertempur dengan pihak polis di Tel Aviv selepas pihak berkuasa berpindah ke hapus bandar khemah mereka. Kem-kem telah membentuk sebahagian daripada protes terhadap kos yang tinggi ketidaksamaan hidup dan sosial di seluruh negara. Sekurang-kurangnya 30 orang telah ditangkap dalam pertempuran itu, kira-kira 100 aktivis yang berkumpul di hadapan Dewan Bandaraya Tel Aviv pada hari Rabu, laporan harian Haaretz Israel. Penunjuk perasaan membaling telur dan bunga di bangunan dan mengumumkan bahawa mereka tidak akan hapus bandar khemah mereka, mendesak datuk bandar Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, untuk meletak jawatan.

Kem-kem telah menjadi sebahagian daripada demonstrasi di seluruh negara yang telah menekan untuk keadilan sosial di Israel selama dua bulan. Langkah untuk merobohkan khemah-khemah penunjuk perasaan datang kurang dari sehari selepas pentadbiran Tel Aviv berjanji untuk melindungi para penunjuk perasaan dan bekerjasama dengan mereka. Danny Dayan, pengerusi majlis Yesha penempatan Yahudi dari Yerusalem, berharap permintaan penunjuk perasaan untuk keadilan sosial tidak akan berkecil hati dengan tindakan polis.

"Ini demonstrasi tegang timbul daripada masalah sosial yang tidak untuk jangka masa yang lama diabaikan. Masyarakat Israel telah terlalu taksub dengan soalan bahawa Mahmud Abbas berkata malam tadi, "Dayan kepada RT. "Saya berharap bantahan ini menandakan perubahan dalam keutamaan." Sementara itu di Tebing Barat, peneroka Yahudi dirosakkan asas Pasukan Pertahanan Israel, melabel sekurang-kurangnya sepuluh kenderaan tentera dengan perkataan "Harga Tag" dalam bahasa Ibrani.

Pihak polis juga berkata yang vandalisma yang membakar sebuah masjid, pokok tumbang, kenderaan rosak dan grafiti disembur. Kerosakan itu dianggap sebagai tindak balas kepada IDF awal merombak beberapa kota kara haram, karavan iaitu Israel di Tebing Barat, yang menduduki tanah tanpa kebenaran daripada kerajaan Israel dan mengisytiharkan diri mereka suatu penyelesaian Israel. Sebuah pasukan khas yang dihantar untuk berurusan dengan vandalisma di Tebing Barat, melaporkan Jerusalem Post.

Clashes in Tel Aviv as police attempt to dismantle tents

Angry protesters in Israel have clashed with police in Tel Aviv after authorities moved to dismantle their tent cities. The camps have formed part of a nationwide protest against the high cost of living and social inequality. At least 30 people have been arrested in the clashes, as about 100 activists gathered in front of Tel Aviv City Hall on Wednesday, Israeli daily Haaretz reports. Protesters threw eggs and flowers at the building and announced that they would not dismantle their tent cities, urging Tel Aviv’s mayor, Ron Huldai, to resign. 

The camps have been part of the nationwide demonstrations which have been pressing for social justice in Israel for two months. The move to pull down the protesters’ tents came less than a day after Tel Aviv's administration promised to protect the demonstrators and co-operate with them. Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha council of Jewish settlements from Jerusalem, hopes the protesters’ demands for social justice will not be discouraged by police actions.

“These tense demonstrations arose from the social problems which were for a long time neglected. Israeli society was too obsessed with the question that Mahmud Abbas said last night,” Dayan told RT. “I hope these protests mark a change in priority.”  Meanwhile on the West Bank, Jewish settlers vandalized an Israeli Defense Force base, labeling at least ten military vehicles with the words "Price Tag” in Hebrew.

The police also say the vandals set fire to a mosque, uprooted trees, damaged vehicles and sprayed graffiti. The damage is regarded as a response to the IDF earlier dismantling several illegal outposts, namely Israeli caravans in the West Bank, which occupied the land without permission from the Israeli government and proclaimed themselves an Israeli settlement. A special squad was dispatched to deal with the vandals on the West Bank, reports the Jerusalem Post.