Arab riots
Arab riotsIssam Rimawi/Flash 90

A wave of Arab rioting swept Judea and Samaria today, as PA leaders called this morning for a “Day of Rage,” ostensibly over US President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Today’s “rage” was supposed to have coincided with a visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to the Middle East, which was originally due to have begun on Tuesday. However, the White House announced earlier this week that Pence’s visit would be delayed until mid-January to allow Pence to remain in Washington this week for a potential tie-breaking vote on US tax reform.

Riots, however, proceeded anyway.

According to Channel 2, hundreds of PA Arabs gathered this afternoon at the Qalandia Checkpoint north of Jerusalem, where they threw stones at security forces and burned tires. In response, security forces made use of crowd dispersal tools.

Clashes between rioters and security forces also took place in PA-controlled cities Beit Lechem, Hevron, and Tulkarem, Channel 10 reported.

Channel 10 also said that Border Policemen stationed near the Tomb of the Patriarchs this morning arrested a 17-year-old Arab youth who approached them with a knife drawn in his hand. Police aimed their weapons at the youth, but ultimately managed to stop the youth without firing any shots.

The youth was detained for investigation.

According to 0404, at least 20 road terror attacks, including the hurling of Molotov cocktails and stones at passing vehicles, have occured since morning in Judea and Samaria and the Jerusalem area.

Last night, as IDF forces and Border Police secured the entry of some 500 visitors to Joseph’s Tomb, a violent riot broke out during which Arabs burned tires and threw stones at security forces. The forces responded with crowd dispersal tools, fired into the air, and arrested three rioters.

Also last night, IDF forces, Border Police and Shin Bet forces arrested a 21-year-old Arab woman from the PA-controlled village of Nabi Salih near Ramallah. The woman, identified as Nur Tamimi, is suspected of involvement in an incident last Friday, during which a group of women from the village’s Tamimi family were filmed kicking, pushing, and shouting at IDF forces stationed in the village during riots.

The arrest came after IDF forces yesterday arrested Nur Tamimi’s cousin Ahad Tamimi, whom footage showed was the most aggressive of the group of women in Nabi Salih; the footage showed her slapping one soldier in the face.