Palestinians in traditional dress dance at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in the West Bank city of Bethlehem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK POLITICS SOCIETY)
Palestinians dance at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk (JERUSALEM POLITICS SOCIETY)
Palestinians perform at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk (JERUSALEM POLITICS SOCIETY)
Palestinians attend a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM POLITICS)
Palestinians perform at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in the West Bank city of Bethlehem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK POLITICS SOCIETY)
Palestinians youth play next to the Damascus gate in Jerusalem, Saturday, March 21, 2009, during events organized to mark Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture for 2009. Israeli police moved into a school in east Jerusalem, bursting balloons in the colors of the Palestinian flag as teenage girls looked on in a push to break up a series of Arab cultural events in the city. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)Israel police ban Arab culture day in Jerusalem
AP – A Palestinian boy scout performs during a rally to mark Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture for 2009, … JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events in Jerusalem on Saturday, disrupting a children's march and bursting balloons at a schoolyard celebration.
Israel said the cultural events violated a ban on Palestinian political activity in the disputed city, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the crackdown.
Palestinian activists called the events to celebrate the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture for 2009. The 23-nation group chooses a different city for the honor each year.
Ahead of Saturday's events, Israel's internal security minister, Avi Dichter, banned the celebrations from taking place, saying Abbas' Palestinian Authority was behind the activities. Israel does not allow the Palestinian government to have a presence in Jerusalem, saying it undercuts Israel's claim to the city.
At one event, teenage girls at an east Jerusalem Catholic school released a few dozen balloons in the red, white, green and black colors of the Palestinian flag over the walled Old City. Israeli military police and soldiers quickly moved into the schoolyard and popped the remaining balloons, students said.
Zein, an 18-year-old student, said the police popped them with their hands and told them they weren't allowed to release them into the air. She asked not to use her last name, fearing further problems with the police.
An Israeli intelligence official at the school who refused to give his name said the balloons were burst "because they are Palestinian."
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said 12 people were detained. Police also broke up attempts by Palestinian school children to march into the Old City.
The dispute over Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is the most sensitive issue in peace talks.
Israel says the entire city of Jerusalem is its undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem — captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and site of key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — as the capital of a future state. Israel annexed the eastern part of the city after the 1967 war, and today, nearly 200,000 Jewish Israelis live in east Jerusalem neighborhoods. The annexation is not internationally recognized.
Speaking in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Abbas said Israel's policies in Jerusalem were undermining the chances for peace.
"The policy of discrimination, suppression, stealing the land, destruction of neighborhoods, and homes, the policy of falsifying the past, destroying the present and stealing the future should all stop if peace is to have a real opportunity in this land," he said.
He urged the incoming Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resume stalled peace negotiations on all issues of dispute, including Jerusalem. The conservative Netanyahu rejects any division of the holy city.
Two years ago, the Arab League designated Jerusalem its 2009 "Arab Cultural Capital," a title that rotates among Arab countries.
Winners typically use the occasion to feature their attachment to Arab culture, sponsoring poetry, music, dance performances, lectures, school activities and sporting events.
In this case, the cultural celebration is also intended to emphasize the Palestinian claim to east Jerusalem.
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