OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The organization Europeans for Jerusalem has warned of the increasing attempts by Israel to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. This includes establishing an elevator to facilitate settler incursions and expanding the practice of public and collective prayers and religious rituals in the Mosque.
This warning came in a report by the organization that documents human rights violations for September 2024 committed by the occupation forces in the holy city.
According to the report, the Israeli occupation forces committed 688 violations categorized into 16 different patterns of human rights abuses, the majority of which are complex violations. The report indicated that incursions and raids constituted 52.5% of these violations, followed by arrests at 14.4%.
The report documented 38 incidents of gunfire and direct assaults by the Israeli forces in the neighborhoods of occupied Jerusalem. This led to the martyrdom of three citizens, one of whom was a child: Ziad Abu Sabih (33), from the village of Ara’ra in southern occupied Palestine, who was martyred after carrying out a stabbing operation at the Damascus Gate on September 15; the child Hani Majdi al-Qari (16) due to injuries sustained from the occupation forces’ gunfire during a raid on a camp on September 18; and Yasser Raed Mateer, shot by the occupation forces during their incursion into Qalandiya camp on September 20. Five others were injured, and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation, in addition to at least 18 citizens who were beaten and mistreated.
The Europeans for Jerusalem team documented that during September, the occupation forces carried out 361 incursions into neighborhoods and towns in Jerusalem, arresting 99 citizens, including 4 women (one of whom is a journalist), two children, and two journalists. They summoned 8 others and imposed house arrest on 4 citizens.
The report also documented 33 demolition and destruction operations targeting 10 homes, of which 8 owners were forced to demolish their own homes, leading to the displacement of 46 citizens. Additionally, 23 facilities were destroyed alongside dozens of demolition notices and orders against other houses and facilities.
The report noted the seizure of a residential apartment by Jewish settlers in the town of Al-Tur and the issuance of a court order by the occupation authorities to evict the Salem Ghaith family from their home in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan for the benefit of settlers.
The report also noted that settlers continued to make changes and additions to two homes they had seized in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood and the Qarmi neighborhood of the Old City of Jerusalem.
During this month, six decisions and measures were issued as part of the efforts to entrench settlement and the Judaization of occupied Jerusalem. These included the construction of a settlement wall near Jaffa Street, conducting excavations in the area of the Umayyad Palaces south of the Qibli Mosque, laying foundations for an elevator to facilitate settlers’ incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the inauguration of a memorial, and the relocation of the military checkpoint at Walaja.
Regarding settlers’ incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the report documented the participation of 4,697 settlers and thousands under the title of tourists in the incursions, which occurred over a span of 21 days. It also recorded 19 other central violations by the occupation, most notably the initiation of construction for the elevator to ease settlers’ access to the Mosque, as well as the repeated performance of collective and public prayers by settlers within the Mosque.
The Israeli occupation authorities continued to implement a policy of expulsion from the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the city of Jerusalem. During this month, the occupation authorities issued 7 expulsion orders against Jerusalemites from the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the city of Jerusalem.
Settlers also continued to carry out assaults against citizens in occupied Jerusalem, carrying out 13 attacks that included assaults on citizens and their properties, along with acts of incitement.
The report indicated that the occupation forces continued to exploit their war on the Gaza Strip to escalate violations in occupied Jerusalem and target Jerusalemites and holy sites. They continued their attempts at Judaization and imposing a new reality in the city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The report warned of the seriousness of the ongoing violations in Jerusalem, the unchecked actions of extremist settlers against citizens, and the attempts to impose new realities in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, alongside the increasing suffering of Jerusalemites, in parallel with the continuation of Judaization policies and repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as attempts to impose temporal and spatial division on the Mosque.
