Far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir set up an office on Sunday (February 13) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem. Video shows him arriving and sitting at a table.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Jerusalem, 13 February 2022. Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir sits at a table as Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli security forces in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem

STORYLINE:

Despite mounting tensions and a seemingly imminent outbreak of violence, far-right Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir set up an office today in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Videos shared on the social media showed fierce clashes breaking out in the neighborhood following Ben-Gvir’s provocative move, and settlers were seen throwing chairs at native Palestinian citizens as Israeli Police stood by to protect them.

Ben-Gvir’s makeshift office was set up on the land of the Palestinian family of Salem which is facing an imminent risk of Israeli expulsion in favor of far-right Israeli organizations.

Last night, scores of Israeli settlers backed by police stormed the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, where they attacked and terrified native Palestinian families and attempted to evict some of them from their homes.

Witnesses said that groups of Israeli settlers backed by Israeli Police stormed the neighborhood in middle of the night, pelted stones at homes and smashed some parked vehicles belonging to local Palestinian citizens.

The settlers also attempted to attack the Salem family home in the neighborhood to evict them from their home, hours after the family received an Israeli court ruling of dispossession that orders the family out of their home to hand it over to far-right Jewish organizations.

Israeli Police fired rubber-coated rounds, teargas canisters and stun grenades at local Palestinian citizens who tried to fend off the settlers’ attack, causing cases of suffocation from gas inhalation.

Fatma Salem, a member of the family, said their home was attacked by settlers and that the family were afraid of an arson attack by settlers, calling on all those who can reach