UNREST IN SHEIKH JARRAH

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL -- JUNE 21, 2021: A Palestinian and Jewish settler confront each other in a brawl as the neighborhood descends into a frenetic donnybrook, while Israeli police tries to disperse the crowds in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, June 21, 2021. Palestinians and their supporters attribute the recent 11-dayÊround of bloodshedÊin May between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in large measure to a concerted push by increasingly emboldened Jewish settlers, backed by legal mechanisms and the weight of the Israeli state, to change the demographics of Jerusalem Ñ a process they liken to an ever-tightening belt of displacement. And that effort is played out daily in Palestinian neighborhoods such as Silwan, set in a steep valley southeast of the Old City, and Sheikh Jarrah, a short distance to the north of the old walls, where the prospective eviction of Palestinian families helped fuel the fighting that broke out May 10. In both neighborhoods, Jewish newcomers hoist giant Israeli flags over fortified ramshackle buildings only feet or inches from Palestinian neighbors. Ugly clashes routinely erupt, with Israeli police intervening, often forcefully, on settlersÕ behalf. At night, a huge blue Star of David glows over Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)