Israeli MPs gather in Sheikh Jarrah
Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right Israeli MPs belonging to the Religious Zionism political alliance, have turned up in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Of course this district is at the centre of tensions in the city. Some 40 Palestinians, including 10 children, have been handed eviction notices with Israeli settlers set to take their homes. This displacement and resettling is illegal under international law.
For weeks, Palestinians have protested against the evictions, which are the subject of a legal battle in Israel's Supreme Court. As the repeatedly delayed judgement has approached, protests and settler counter-protests have stepped up.
According to Mohammed al-Kurd, a Palestinian belonging to a family threatened with eviction, no Palestinians are currently allowed in the part of Sheikh Jarrah threatened with evictions - not even journalists.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich aren't the only Israeli MPs there. Ayman Odeh, Ahmed Tibi and other MPs from the Joint List, the party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, have also headed to the flashpoint neighbourhood.
"Everything that's happening here is part of the nefarious occupation. There is a nation of people here that deserve self-determination – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel," Haaretz reported Odeh saying in Sheikh Jarrah.
"What has happened in the past month constitutes a direct attack on the worshippers – disconnecting the speakers and the roadblocks constitute an attempt to transfer the population of Sheikh Jarrah," he added.
"Whoever wants to live in peace needs to see themselves as part of the just struggle of East Jerusalem against this nefarious occupation. There is nothing that justifies the control of a whole people. The Palestinian people are a people like any other people in the world."
Israeli forces and settlers have violently cracked down on peaceful Palestinian protests in Sheikh Jarrah over recent days. Settlers have even fired live rounds at protesters.