No good deed goes unpunished, so the saying goes, and more than one Israeli Police officer has probably muttered it under his breath by Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, police naval search teams recovered the missing body of a 24-year-old Jerusalem Arab man who drowned in Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) on Friday.
By late afternoon, a funeral procession for the victim, Ali Abu Gharbiyeh, was making its way from the Arab neighborhood of A-Tur, towards the Old City of Jerusalem.
But halfway through the funeral proceedings, Arab protesters suddenly raised their hands high with a Palestinian Authority flag, waving it in the air.
Blocking the road, the protesters began hurling rocks at Israel Police officers who were securing the funeral, stirring up already deeply felt emotions, whipping up people’s grief into pandemonium and leading them to a riot.
One police officer was treated by a medic at the scene after being hit in the face by a rock.
The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported that “at least 35” participants at the funeral were also hurt, quoting the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israel Police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri told Ma’an, “Police will not allow the exploitation of a funeral procession to include hostile national features and disorderly acts by any party.”
On the Twitter social networking site, Israel Police posted a separate statement:
“By order of the Jerusalem District Police Chief, a procession and funeral in East Jerusalem was dispersed when participants acted against public order. A number of suspects blocked the road and threw stones at police. An officer was hit in the face by a stone and [was] being cared for on site. The rioters were dispersed using riot-dispersal methods.“
An investigation into the masterminds behind the protest has been launched.