July 2017- The occupation authorities increase their violation in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and continue arrests and demolitions in Jerusalem
Wadi Hilweh Information Center issued its monthly report for July 2017 in which it monitored the Israeli violations in the city of Jerusalem.
The occupation authorities escalated their violations in Al-Aqsa Mosque, besieging and closing it and attacking the worshipers on the last Friday of July, while the number of settlers storming Al-Aqsa increased, and the daily arrests and demolitions of residential, commercial and agricultural facilities continued in the city.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
On July 27, Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and besieged it for 4 hours. They prevented access to it after the Friday Prayer until after the Afternoon Prayer.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in its monthly report that the occupation soldiers attacked the worshipers, including "women, children and the elderly" with sound grenades, rubber bullets, beatings and pushing in order to evacuate the courtyards of Al-Aqsa. They were prevented from being in the chapels and mosques, and closed all the gates except for some of them where worshippers were evacuated from.
The occupation forces also evicted the director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, Al-Aqsa guards and Al-Awqaf employees from the mosque by force and detained some of them at Al-Aqsa gates.
During the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the evacuation of all squares, the occupation forces stormed Al-Qibali Mosque - besieged and closed it with chains - and executed multiple arrests. During the closure of Al-Aqsa, the mayor of the occupation municipality, Nir Barakat, and the Chief of police, Yoram Hilifi, and senior officers stormed Al-Aqsa under the protection of a large numbers of special units and police.
During the siege of Al-Aqsa, the religious authorities and national forces announced an open sit-in at the gates of Al-Aqsa until reopening its gates. They held the Afternoon Prayer in Al-Ghazali courtyard in front of Lions Gate, and then entered Al-Aqsa with chants of “God is Great”.
On the other hand, the alleged temple groups called for mass incursions throughout July to revive the so-called "Temple ruins". In July, 3,800 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque making it the largest number in one month in more than 15 years.
The Center added in its monthly report that on 22 July, 1336 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque. Settlers who broke into Al-Aqsa carried out prayers and rituals inside the courtyards of the mosque and on its gates from the outside, protected by hundreds of Israeli policemen. In the memory of the so-called "destruction of the Temple", while the Israeli occupation forces intensified their presence at the gates of Al-Aqsa and in its courtyards and obstructed the entry of worshipers and holdingtheir ID cards and evicting the young men from it.
At the beginning of last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to allow his ministers and Knesset members to break into Al-Aqsa once every three months. A few days after the decision, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Uri Ariel, and MKs Sharin Hikchel, Yehuda Glick, Shuli Maalem and Amir Ohana, stormed into the Mosque.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored the isolation of 33 Palestinians from Al-Aqsa Mosque, most of whom were arrested during the storming of the Mosque, including 4 women and 8 minors.
Arrests
The Israeli occupation authorities continued to execute arrests in Jerusalem. The Information Center monitored 122 cases of arrests in Jerusalem last July, including 42 minors and 4 women.
The geographical distribution of the detainees was as follows: 42 detainees from the village of Silwan, 29 from Al-Aqsa Mosque and 22 from Old City of Jerusalem, 17 from Esawyeh, 4 from Al-Tur, 4 from Shu'fat Refugee Camp, 2 from Wad Al-Joz, 1 from Kufor Aqab and 1 from Jabal Al-Mukabber.
Demolition
The Israeli occupation authorities continued to demolish residential, commercial and agricultural structures on the pretext of building without a permit. Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored the demolition of 15 facilities in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, 5 of which were self-demolished.
The facilities were as follows: 7 houses, 3 commercial facilities, 2 containers, 1 barracks for livestock, 1 parking lot and 1 fence.
The geographical distribution of demolitions was as follows: 6 in Silwan, 3 in Shu’fat, 2 in Al-Tur and 4 in Beit Hanina.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that four houses belonging to the families of Abu Rmeileh and Shawamreh families were self-demolished following the Israeli court's ruling on ownership of the land for the settlers since 1974. The total area of the land is 3 Dunoms (3000 square meters). Based on this ruling, the two families decided to self-demolish their houses and not hand them over to settlers so they won’t turn into settlement outposts in the village.
Suppression of events
In the framework of the prevention of social and cultural activities in Jerusalem, the occupation authorities prevented in July the fourth academic conference entitled "Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem," which was called for by the Supreme Islamic Committee and the preservation of the Waqf and the heritage of Jerusalem, on the pretext of being organized and sponsored by the Palestinian National Authority. Intelligence personnel stormed the headquarters of the Faculty of Hind Al-Husseini in Jerusalem, and detained the people inside the hall and surrounded the entrance of the college and the conference room.
