OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Jerusalem Governorate issued its monthly report on Sunday on the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its violations in the holy city for the past month of May.
The Governorate said in the report issued by the Public Relations and Media Unit that the fierce attacks by the Israeli occupation authorities and their settlers are continuing, under the right-wing occupation government that is implementing an extremist program aimed at annexation, displacement, Judaization and land seizure, and deepening colonization and apartheid.
The martyrs
During the month of May, two martyrs were killed in the Jerusalem Governorate, one of them a child and the other from outside the Governorate. On the dawn of May 16, the child Nour Nizar Shehabi (17 years old) from the Sawwana neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem was killed after the occupation forces opened fire at him in the Bab al-Sahira area. The occupation authorities withheld his body.
On May 19, Rami Qiratqeh (44 years old) from the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, was killed at the Qalandiya checkpoint near occupied Jerusalem.
File of detained bodies
On May 16, the occupation detained the body of the child martyr Shehabi, and with the detention of the body of the child martyr Shehabi, the number of bodies of Jerusalem martyrs detained by the occupation authorities in refrigerators or cemeteries of numbers until the end of May 2024 rises to 41 Jerusalem martyrs.
Targeting national personalities
The occupation authorities continue their attempts to impose sovereignty over Jerusalem and its holy sites in order to impose a new de facto situation, and they continue their racist policy against the national symbols of Jerusalem, foremost among them the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, on whom the occupation has imposed an open house arrest since August 4, 2022, without specifying a time period for an end to the decision. On May 20, the occupation intelligence summoned Governor Ghaith for interrogation in what is known as room 4 in the al-Maskobiya center in occupied Jerusalem.
The occupation also handed Ghaith a decision to renew his expulsion from the West Bank for the sixth consecutive year. On May 30, the occupation handed Ghaith a decision to renew his expulsion from the West Bank for a new period of 4 months until September 16.
The occupation forces also attacked the participants in commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the death of the national figure Faisal Al-Husseini, which led to the injury of the director of the Prisoners’ Society, Nasser Qaws, and Is-haq Al-Qawasmi, an employee with Beit Al-Sharq or the Orient House.
Settler attacks
Attacks by settlers on Palestinians in general and the people of Jerusalem governorate in particular are increasing, amidst the negligence of the occupation police in arresting the assailants. The fascist occupation government deliberately provides cover for their criminal racist practices, by means of manipulation and illegal evasion, to provide a safety net to protect these aggressors, as they are the powerful tool for the extremist occupation policy to implement and achieve its goals. During May 2024, the Jerusalem governorate monitored about 19 attacks by settlers.
Injuries
During May, the Jerusalem Governorate recorded injuries resulting from the occupation forces’ use of excessive force against the Jerusalemites. It was noted that 13 injuries were recorded due to live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, and severe beating, in addition to cases of suffocation from teargas.
Settlers’ storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque
In a clear and explicit violation of the sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the settlers’ incursions continued during May 2024. 4,277 settlers and 6,179 individuals, under the guise of tourism, stormed the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque under the strict protection of the occupation forces.
Occupation crimes against Christian sanctities in Jerusalem
The occupation forces tightened their measures and erected iron barriers in order to restrict the Christians who were commemorating Good Friday.
The occupation forces deployed their checkpoints on the roads of the Old City and at its gates in occupied Jerusalem to restrict the Christian residents on the occasion of the celebration of Holy Saturday according to the Eastern calendar.
The occupation forces also obstructed the arrival of Christian Jerusalemites to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and restricted them during their celebration of “Holy Saturday”, and assaulted the Christian residents in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem, and arrested the Greek Consul Guard from inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem.
The occupation authorities restricted the arrival of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank to participate in the Holy Saturday celebrations in Jerusalem, erected barriers and iron barricades, and limited the number of participants inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and also assaulted the participants and arrested some of them in a barbaric manner.
69 Arrests during May, including 15 children
During May 2024, 69 arrests were recorded in all areas of Jerusalem governorate, including 15 children and 3 women.
Actual prison sentences
The report monitored the issuance of 46 actual prison sentences by the racist occupation courts against Jerusalem prisoners, including 26 administrative detention sentences, i.e. without clearly defining charges against them.
Among the highest sentences issued by the occupation authorities during May was the sentence against the young Jerusalemite Thaer Bakirat from the town of Sur Baher in occupied Jerusalem, as the occupation issued him an actual prison sentence of four and a half years, after a year of being under house arrest.
House arrests
The Jerusalem governorate recorded 3 house arrest decisions issued by the occupation authorities during May, against the youths: Yamen Taha, Adam Zeitoun and Mahdi Khadour, for a period ranging from two to five days.
Deportation decisions
The occupation authorities issued 6 deportation decisions, 2 of which were deportation from the Al-Aqsa Mosque during May 2024.
Travel ban
The occupation courts issued a decision to ban the released Jerusalem prisoner Yacoub Abu Assab from traveling outside the country for the sixth consecutive year.
30 Demolition and excavation operations
30 demolition and excavation operations were recorded, including: 9 forced self-demolitions and 20 demolitions carried out by occupation machinery, in addition to an excavation operation.
Demolition, forced eviction and land seizure decisions
The occupation authorities handed over a number of demolition orders in different areas of Jerusalem Governorate, where they stopped construction in one of the modern buildings in the town of Kafr Aqab and seized a cement pump.
The occupation forces also notified the demolition of dozens of commercial shops along the road connecting the Jaba and Qalandiya military checkpoints north of occupied Jerusalem, and a bridge connecting the towns of Jaba and Al-Ram.
The occupation municipality crews delivered demolition orders to a number of residents in the town of Al-Issawiya in occupied Jerusalem after raiding the town and taking photos of houses there.
The Swahra family in the town of Jabal Al-Mukaber began to evacuate the contents of their residential building to implement the decision to demolish it in the coming days. It is noteworthy that the building consists of 3 floors and 6 residential apartments, and 50 individuals will become homeless.
Forced Displacement
During May, the Shehade family in the town of Silwan submitted a petition to the occupation Supreme Court to cancel an Israeli judge’s decision to evict them from their homes in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood, without waiting for the legal advisor’s opinion, and without allowing the family’s lawyer to follow up on this procedure.
The Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision to cancel the eviction orders against the Hamad, Al-Dajani and Al-Dahoudi families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood units in occupied Jerusalem.
Violations against Jerusalem institutions and landmarks
In ongoing attempts to undermine Palestinian efforts within the occupied city, the occupation continues its policy of closing institutions operating there and suppressing activities that affirm the presence and steadfastness of Jerusalemites in the occupied city.
The most prominent of these attacks during the month of May were: attacks on journalists, media institutions, incitement against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), attacks on events, attacks on school students, and the obliteration of the city’s landmarks.
Colonial projects
In its relentless and accelerating effort to impose a new de facto situation on the city of occupied Jerusalem and Judaize it by implementing dangerous colonial projects, the occupation authorities approved a new colonial project during the month of May, in addition to starting work on two previously approved projects, and inaugurating a project that has been completed.
