AL JAZEERA has protested after its veteran correspondent Givara Budeiri was assaulted and forcibly detained by Israeli police on Saturday and camera equipment belonging to one of its cameramen destroyed.

Ms Budeiri was seized while covering a protest in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrar neighbourhood, where ongoing Israeli attempts to evict Palestinian residents and replace them with Jewish settlers have sparked repeated confrontations.

Ms Budeiri’s arm was broken during the arrest, which took place while she was wearing body armour marked Press.

She was under observation at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, the city’s Al Jazeera bureau cheif Walid Omary said.

The reporter said she was covering a sit-in in Sheikh Jarrar when police asked for her ID. She offered to call her driver to get it from her car, but says she was prevented from doing so, pushed, handcuffed and forced into a police car.

Al Jazeera acting director-general said: “The systematic targeting of our journalists is in total violation of all international conventions.” 

Al Jazeera’s Gaza offices were deliberately bombed by Israel during last month’s assault on the besieged territory.