Jerusalem in 2020…Corona virus and continuous violations by the occupation authorities and settlers through killing, arrests, demolitions and targeting Islamic and Christian holy sites
The year 2020 witnessed a succession of events not witnessed in Jerusalem before, the most important of which was the announcement of the so-called deal of the century or the American peace plan according to the vision of President Trump and his administration, and the world's preoccupation with the repercussions of the Corona virus and its heavy burden on all aspects of life.
And between these two events, ongoing violations were carried out against the people of Jerusalem such as killing, beating and arrests, in addition to confiscating and vandalizing their property. The assault extended to Islamic and Christian holy sites as they were closed, stormed and burned at times. Prisoners and their families were deported and their money was confiscated, while their homes and real estate were demolished. Fines were also imposed on them, and their institutions and activities were faced with prevention, closure and threats.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored, in its annual report, the most important violations and events that occurred in the city of Jerusalem during the year 2020, and provides details and statistics in a comprehensive chronology and region.
Palestinian Martyrs in Jerusalem
The occupation authorities continued to kill Palestinians in Jerusalem, under the pretext of "attempts to carry out stabbings, shootings, or possession of a knife". The killings were according to the following sequence:
6/2/2020 Shadi Al-Banna, 45, from the city of Haifa, was martyred during a shooting attack at the Lions Gate, and the occupation authorities handed over his body several days after his killing.
22/2/2020 Maher Za`atra, 33, from the village of Jabal Al-Mukabber, was killed by bullets from the occupation forces in the area of Lions Gate, under the pretext of trying to carry out a stabbing attack.
30/5/2020 The 32-year-old Iyad Khairy Al-Hallaq, from Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, was martyred by the Israeli occupation’s bullets while on his way to his “Al-Bakriya / Elwin Private Education School”, in the Old City of Jerusalem, where he was killed several meters from his school, knowing that he is an autistic patient.
17/8/2020 Ashraf Halasa, from the town of Eastern Sawahreh, was killed with bullets by the occupation forces stationed at Bab Hutta - one of the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque - after he tried to carry out a stabbing attack.
25/11/2020 The 36-year-old Nour Jamal Shqeir, from Silwan, was killed at Al-Z’ayem checkpoint, after being shot by border guards at the checkpoint, and his body was buried after being detained for 5 days.
21/12/2020 The 17-year-old boy, Mahmoud Omar Kamil, from Jenin, was killed after a shooting attack with the occupation forces in Bab Hutta in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Detaining the bodies of Jerusalemite martyrs
The center stated that the occupation authorities continue to detain the bodies of three Jerusalemite martyrs in refrigerators, and they are: Mesbah Abu Sbeih since October 2016, Fadi al-Qunbar since January 2017, and Aziz Aweisat since May 2018.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
This year did not differ from its predecessors, so settlers continued to carry out daily incursions into Al-Aqsa - except for Fridays and Saturdaysof every week - during the morning and afternoon incursion periods, through Dung Gate, whose keys have been controlled by the occupation authorities since the occupation of Jerusalem. According to the Islamic Endowments Department, the number of those that stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque reached 18,526 extremistslast year.
The incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque increased during the period of Jewish holidays, and those who stormed Al-Aqsa intentionally performed prayers in its squares.
The occupation authorities continued to pursue the worshipers by arresting them, preventing them from entering, detaining their IDs, and subjecting them to searches at the gate and in Al-Aqsa squares, with government support amid various statements and a demand for the extension of Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa.
The Council of Endowments, Affairs and Religious Sanctities decided to suspend the entry of worshipers and visitors to Al-Aqsa from March 23 until May 31, in order to preserve the health of worshipers and citizens after the increase in the number of infected people and the spread of the Corona virus.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored the most prominent violations in Al-Aqsa, the most prominent of which were:
In January, officers, special forces, police and border guards stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque 6 times, attacking the worshipers, and carrying out arrests from its squares, and the incursions were mainly carried out at dawn on Fridays, "the second half of the month", during which the forces suppressed the worshipers and attacked them, fired rubber bullets and evacuated the squares by force.
In February, the occupation authorities continued to restrict those arriving to Al-Aqsa for the dawn prayer, by imposing restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa, preventing women or young men from entering Al-Aqsa without reason, and by withholding ID cards at the gates and searching bags.
At the gates of Al-Aqsa, the police issued financial violations for young men and prevented them from distributing hot drinks and snacks to the worshipers, and issued violations for every person who volunteered to distribute them, and the municipality also confiscated food and drinks from them.
In March and with the appearance of the first cases of the Coronavirus in the Palestinian territories, the occupation authorities tried to interfere in the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the pretext of preventing the virus. In mid-March, Al-Aqsa gates were closed except for Hutta, Al-Majles and Al-Silsileh gates, and also kept Dung Gate open where settlers stormed Al-Aqsa through it. The Department of Islamic Endowments made its contacts with the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments and the Jordanian Embassy, until the gates of Al-Aqsa were fully opened to worshipers about an hour after it was closed.
On 20/3/2020, the occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers to perform the Friday prayers, by closing the gates of Al-Aqsa and preventing entry to it and to the Old Jerusalem, under the pretext of preventing the Corona virus. According to the estimates of the Endowment Department - only 500 worshipers performed the Friday prayers, and the forces suppressed the worshipers that tried to pray in the streets and roads, with sound grenades, beating and shoving away. The next day, the occupation forces stormed the house of the head of the Islamic Endowments Council, Sheikh Abdel-Azim Salhab, and issued him a fine of 5 thousand shekels, under the pretext of “not adhering to police decisions and allowing more worshipers to enter Al-Aqsa that the permitted number.”
On the first day of Eid Al-Fiter (24/5/2020), the occupation authorities suppressed dozens of worshipers who performed the Eid prayers in Al-Ghazali Square in front of Lions Gate.
At the end of last May, with the early hours of reopening Al-Aqsa in front of worshipers, after a 69-day closure, the occupation police stormed the mosque and carried out arrests from its squares, while allowing dozens of settlers to storm it through Dung Gate.
On the last Friday in September and during Fridays in October, the occupation police prevented worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers, and allowed only the residents of the Old City to enter it, under the pretext of "limiting the spread of the Corona virus", and isolated the Old City of Jerusalem and erected police checkpoints in the streets and roads leading to the Old City and Al-Aqsa, and the police issued financial violations for young Jerusalemites under the pretext of "exceeding the permissible distance and moving away from the place of residence."
Last November, the afternoon incursions period was increased by half an hour, noting that the morning break-in period was from 7: 00-10: 30 a.m., and the second "afternoon" period was from 12:30-1: 30, and at the end of the month it was extended until 2:00 p.m.
In November, the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation sent a letter to the Minister of Internal Security in the occupation government, in which it demanded that Jewish religious schools be allowed to spend the entire period available for the incursions in learning and teaching the Torah in the eastern square of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The month of October witnessed a dangerous escalation in Al-Aqsa, where the extremist Tommy Nissani, head of the Students for the Temple and Director of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, called on the "alleged Temple" organizations, during his incursion into Al-Aqsa, to expel the "terrorist endowment" from Al-Aqsa Mosque, as he put it, and he said in a statement inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, guarded by the occupation police: "We see in the" peace-loving Arabs "a reliable ally in placing Al-Aqsa under direct Israeli administration and in turning it into a joint administration between Jews and Muslims.”
In the following month (November), the extremist "Nissani" called on Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, to "search for a new job" because he will not have a job in Al-Aqsa. “Work is underway, in cooperation with the Gulf states, to hold joint prayers for Muslims and Jews,” he said.
In another escalation, the occupation authorities installed speakers and sensors in several places above the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Bab Al-Rahma Chapel
The occupation authorities continue their attempts to impose control over the Bab al-Rahma chapel, through the occupation courts and on the ground, through its frequent incursions.
The Endowments and Islamic Affairs Council made it clear that the occupation authorities filed a lawsuit in early 2020 demanding an order to renew the closure of Bab Al-Rahma chapel, and in July the occupation court issued a decision to close it. The police directorate sent a letter to the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem to inform them of the court's decision, while the religious authorities (the Supreme Islamic Commission, the Council of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, the House of Fatwa and the Department of the Judge of Judges) confirmed at the time that Bab al-Rahma chapel is an integral part of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is for Muslims alone by a divine decision that is not negotiable, and that they will not give an iota of dirt from it.
On the ground, the police continue their daily storming of Bab al-Rahma, photographing those inside it and pursuing them with arrest and expulsion.
The most prominent incursion of this year was carried out on 21/2/2020, when officers and soldiers stormed Al-Aqsa after Friday prayers and carried out arrests from its squares and its gates, raided the Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall, confiscated banners and slogans hung on its doors and destroyed balloons hung in its yards as well as confiscating a sign on its roof, coinciding with the first anniversary of its reopening after a 16-year closure.
In late June, the occupation forces stormed the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and arrested a guard and 5 women.
Officers and police also prohibited the presence of worshipers in the eastern region of Al-Aqsa Mosque, "the vicinity of the Bab Al-Rahma prayer hall," during the settlers’ incursions period, and forced them to leave the area and not sit and pray there.
Restrictions on arrivals from the West Bank to pray in Al-Aqsa
Since last November, the occupation authorities imposed their restrictions during Fridays on the entry of Palestinians with West Bank IDs who wish to pray in Al-Aqsa, and the occupation authorities took several measures in Jerusalem during that, including: erecting checkpoints at all the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa, and checking the identities of those who arrived,preventing the residents of the West Bank from entering and praying in it, and deporting them via special buses to the military checkpoints established at the entrances to Jerusalem, "Qalandia, Hizma and Rachel's Dome."
Deportation decisions from Jerusalem, the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque
The occupation authorities continued to use the method of deportation from Jerusalem, its Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the deportation decisions included dozens of religious and patriotic figures and Jerusalemites for periods ranging from two days to six months.
The center stated that most of the deportation decisions are handed to Palestinians and are for several days, and then get renewed for several months, according to decisions issued by several officials, including the "The Police Chief of Jerusalem or the Commander of the Home Front."
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 375 deportation decisions: 315 from Al-Aqsa Mosque, 15 from Jerusalem, 33 from the Old City, 4 from the West Bank, 8 travel bans;among those that received the deportation orders were 15 minors, and 66 women.
The months of January, June and September witnessed the highest rate of deportation decisions, and among the deportees was the head of the Supreme Islamic Authority, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, and the deputy director of the Jerusalem Endowments, Sheikh Najeh Bkeirat, and the governor of Jerusalem who was prevented from entering the West Bank and placed under house arrest inside the town of Silwan.
The occupation authorities targeted the employees of the Islamic Endowments Department, including administrative staff, guards, sanctuary, and reconstruction committees, with detention, threats, and deportation from Al-Aqsa for various periods.
Pursuit of the governor of Jerusalem
The Center stated that the governor of Jerusalem has received several military decisions as part of continuous prosecutions against him since assuming his duties as mayor of Jerusalem at the end of August 2018, and among the decisions he received was the imposition of house arrest on him in Silwan, and preventing him from communicating with 51 Palestinian figures, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister,and field leaders and activists, and preventing him from carrying out any activities under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem. The decision includes: collecting or distributing funds except for donation activities for those in need only, organizing meetings, holding seminars or workshops.
Injuries by the occupation forces’ bullets...
In mid-February 2020, the child Malik Wael Issa, 8 years old, from the village of Issawiya, lost his left eye and suffered fractures and severe damage to the skull, after he was hit by a rubber bullet while returning home after the end of his school day accompanied by his sisters. By the end of the year, the investigation department with the police closed the investigation file under the pretext of lack of evidence against the suspected soldier.
On 22/2/2020, Mrs. Anisa Abu Al-Hawa, 43, was hit by a bullet in the thigh, as she was exiting from Lions Gate while the soldiers were pursuing a young man who they claimed was carrying a knife, and shot him.
At the beginning of March, a 15-year-old student, Mohammad Awni Attia, was wounded with a rubber bullet in the hand while he was in the yard of his school, "The Secondary School for Boys," in the village of Issawiya, during the break between classes.
On 18/8/2020, Mohammad Muammar Abu Usba, 24, was wounded by Israeli bullets during the demolition of a residential building in Jabal Al-Mukabber village, south of Jerusalem, and the bullet hit the liver, the diaphragm and the right lung.
In addition, the center monitored several cases of rubber bullets, fractures, bruises, and wounds, during the implementation of the arrests or the incursions into towns in Jerusalem.
Injuries and violations by settlers…
Settlers' attacks on holy sites and properties in Jerusalem continued, as settlers assaulted Palestinian youths while they were passing through the streets of West Jerusalem or while they were working for no reason.
At the beginning of the year (24/1/2020), settlers set fire to Al-Badrin Mosque in the village of Sharafat, southwest of Jerusalem, and the fired burned the pulpit, carpets, Qur’ans, books for the Prophet’s Sunnah, the mosque’s microphone, and settlers wrote on one of its walls the slogan “You demolished for the Jews, we will demolish for the enemies.”
Towards the end of the year and the advent of Christmas (4/12/2020), a settler poured a burning substance and set fire to the "Gethsemane / All Nations" Church, located at Lions Gate in Jerusalem. Some seats and the mosaic floor were damaged, and the church guards were able to extinguish the fire and catch the settler.
In the beginning of April, settlers attacked 4 young men in West Jerusalem with sharp tools, beating and poisonous pepper gas, which resulted in the injury of one of the youths in his head.
On May 7th2020, the Jerusalemite Muntaser Ahmed Issa, 23, was subjected to abuse while he was working on the "Egged" bus (the line of the Pisgat Ze'ev settlement north of Jerusalem), where a settler beat him and unleashed his dog without a veil on it. The bus driver suffered injuries and required stitches in his mouth and tongue.
On 18/5/2020, the 17-year-old, Mohammad Fadi Natsheh, was wounded in the neck, as a result of being stabbed by a settler while walking in Jaffa Street in West Jerusalem.
On 22/12/2020, Nour Shkeirat was beaten and assaulted while he was working on the "Egged" bus, when a settler sprayed him with gas, while a number of settlers threw stones at the bus and fired shots into the air.
In early November, a settler tried to kidnap a boy while he was collecting plastic boxes in the village of Um Tuba, south of Jerusalem, but his attempt was thwarted after the intervention of a young man and summoning the police to arrest him.
At the end of last year, hundreds of settlers attacked the homes and properties of Jerusalemites in the Jabal al-Masharef neighborhood in Jerusalem, with stones and verbally insulted them, where a young man and a girl were injured with stones, and the windows of some vehicles were shattered, in addition to smashing the gate of a health center and several vehicles in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Hundreds of arrests
The arrest campaigns did not differentiate between a young man, a woman, a child, or an elderly person, nor did they differentiate between a leader, a religious symbol, or an ordinary person. Arrests were concentrated in the village of Issawiya followed by the Old City of Jerusalem and Silwan, in addition to arrested from the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates as well as towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Among the detainees were the head of the Supreme Islamic Commission, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, who was arrested and summoned several times, the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, who was arrested and summoned several times, the Minister of Jerusalem in the Palestinian government, Fadi al-Hidmi, the two deputies of the Legislative Council, Mohammad Abu Ter, and Ahmad Attoun. Also, there were campaigns that affected freed prisoners and leaders of Fatah movement in Jerusalem, and field activists.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 1979 arrests, including: “8 children - less than the age of responsibility / less than 12 years old”, 364 boys, and 100 females, including 3 minors.
The village of Issawiya recorded the highest number of arrests with 645 cases, followed by Al-Aqsa Mosque area, its gates and the roads leading to it with 365 cases, then the town of Silwan with 298 cases, the Old City of Jerusalem with 289 cases, and the village of Al-Tur with 142 cases, in addition to arrests in all towns and neighborhoods of the city.
The center stated that the highest months in which the arrests were carried out were January, July, October, and March.
The center added that the campaign of "attacks and collective punishment" continued in the village of Issawiya for the second year in a row, with daily raids and police checkpoints erected at its entrances and inside its streets and lanes, in addition to stationing at the doors of residential buildings and shops, inspecting vehicles and issuing fines, and storming and searching residential homes, and the implementation of arrests and the delivery of summonses. The occupation municipality's staff continued to issue demolition orders and stop construction in the village, and the forces were stationed and spread around the medical centers. During the storming of the village, the forces used rubber bullets, gas and sound grenades.
Confiscation of money and property from the prisoners and their families
The occupation authorities continue to pursue Jerusalemite prisoners and their families, by imposing various penalties on them, and confiscating money and property from them, or suspending their residency in the city.
At the beginning of last February, the occupation authorities confiscated money and Jewelry from the families of 9 Jerusalem prisoners, including "freed prisoners, and some of whom are still in captivity," on the pretext that they received money from "hostile entities", in reference to their salaries they receive from the Palestinian Authority. This was a practical application of the decision of the Israeli army minister, Naftali Bennett, to cut the salaries of 9 Jerusalem prisoners, on the pretext of "receiving monthly salaries from the Palestinian Authority, which encourages them to terrorism and to carry out attacks."
In June, the occupation authorities confiscated a sum of money from the freed prisoner Majid Jo’beh after storming his house for the same argument.
As for the beginning of June and late June, decisions were made to deport the freed prisoner Annan Najib from Jerusalem for 6 months on the pretext of "activities that threaten the security of the area", and to expel the wife of freed prisoner Ahmed Abu Ghazala from the city, under the pretext of “illegal presence in the city because she holds the identity of the West Bank”. The freed prisoner, Waheed Shabaneh, was deported from the city of Jerusalem, on the pretext that "his presence in the city is illegal because he holds the identity of the West Bank."
The Ministry of Interior also issued a decision to deport the wife of the freed prisoner, Mohammad al-Ajlouni, from Jerusalem, after the reunification request that he submitted several years ago was rejected on the pretext that it poses a security threat to the occupation state.
In early September, the occupation intelligence handed the freed prisoner, Salah Hammouri, a decision requiring "the intention of the Minister of Interior in the occupation government to withdraw his residency in Jerusalem", under the pretext that it" constitutes a threat to the security of the occupation’s state, and his disloyal to it and his activity in the Popular Front." This comes after 4 years of his family being separated, as his wife was deported to France and prevented from returning to her home in Jerusalem.
Dozens of demolition orders
The occupation municipality has escalated the policy of demolishing homes, commercial and agricultural establishments, foundations, and barracks in the city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without a permit despite the state of emergency and the difficult economic situation in the city during the Corona pandemic, at a time when the municipality imposes impracticable conditions and the huge sums of licensing procedures that extend for many years.
The occupation municipality also forced Jerusalemites to implement the orders and decisions to demolish their property, "self-demolition", after threatening to impose heavy fines in addition to forcing them to pay demolition fees to the municipality's staff and the accompanying occupation forces.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored the demolition of 193 facilities in the city of Jerusalem, 107 of which were self-demolished by their owners. Among the facilities were 114 houses, 4 residential buildings, 30 commercial establishments, in addition to residential rooms, yards for livestock, farms, building foundations and the leveling of land.
The village of Jabal Al-Mukabber recorded the highest rate of demolition in Jerusalem, followed by Silwan, Issawiya and Beit Hanina, in addition to other demolition operations in the towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
The month of August, followed by September, witnessed the largest demolitions in Jerusalem.
Bulldozers belonging to the "Jerusalem Municipality" and "Moria Company" demolished, at the end of the year, part of the wall of the Martyrs' Cemetery belonging to the Yusifiya Cemetery and the stairs leading to the it and to Lions Gate and Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to create a "path to the biblical garden" in the place. The two lawyers, Mohannad Jbara And Hamzeh Qutteineh were able to issue a precautionary order prohibiting the implementation of any demolition and break-in actions to the land adjacent to the Yusufiya cemetery, and they confirmed that the actions are illegal, as it has been proven conclusively that the plot of land is an endowment and an Islamic cemetery, and the cemetery committee of the Department of Islamic Endowments is responsible for it, and that the Jerusalem municipality operates in the place without any right and without any plan, and any approved license.
Evacuation and confiscation decisions.
In 2020, new Jerusalemite families joined the list of people threatened with expulsion from their homes, and there was concern about the fate of displacement and expulsion in favor of the settlement associations.
At the end of last year, the “Elad Settlement” association took control of a property in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan, after it was leaked by its original owner, noting that part of the property was seized in 2017, while the Salah family managed to stay in part of the property as a “protected tenant”. Then, Israeli courts decided to vacate the property based on laws that enable the Elad Association (the owner of the property) to evict the tenants from it in certain circumstances.
In July, the Nature and parks Authority confiscated a plot of land in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood and demolished the warehouses built on it, under the pretext of public interest. The Nature and parks Authority plans to establish a "pedestrian road" that will start from the Kedem settlement project "at the entrance to the neighborhood" to Dung Gate and Al-Buraq Wall. The land is several meters away from the site planned for the construction of one of the stations of the "cable car” project.
The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority also continues to work in the lands of Wadi al-Rababeh neighborhood in Silwan, as part of a plan to implement and establish “national parks,” thus confiscating and seizing lands and preventing Palestinian landowners from entering them.
In Silwan, the occupation courts issued decisions last year to evacuate the families of "Al-Rajabi, Odeh, Shweiki, Dweik, Ghaith, and Abu Nab" from their properties in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood in the town in favor of the Ateret Cohanim settlement association, as the association seeks to evacuate the residents of a land that is 5200 square meters from Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood, under the pretext of ownership by Jews from Yemen since 1881, and the threat of eviction threatens more than 87 families living on the plot of land that is threatened with confiscation.
In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the Israeli Magistrate’s Court issued a decision to evacuate seven families (al-Qasim, al-Jauni, al-Kurd, al-Skafi, Hammad, Dajani, and al-Dawoudi) from the neighborhood. The court also required each family to pay sums of money “the settlers’ lawyers’fees and other expenses to the court.”The settlement associations claim that they own the plot of land of about 19 Dunoms (1900 square meters) since 1885, on which 28 families have lived since 1956 when it was agreed between the Jordanian government, represented by "the Ministry of Construction and Development and the Relief and Works Agency for Refugees," to provide housing for 28 refugee families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Jerusalem in light of the Corona pandemic
The Corona pandemic struck Jerusalem as well as other cities in the world, and the pandemic imposed unprecedented measures, as life was paralyzed and mosques, churches, schools and commercial centers were closed. The commercial movement and the educational process stopped for weeks, and thousands of Jerusalemites suffered an economic crisis as a result of the disruption of their work or the loss of their jobs.
To limit the spread of the Corona virus, Al-Aqsa Mosque closed its gates to worshipers for a period of 69 days, while the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has closed its doors since the month of March and only allows specific numbers to enter for prayer.
The Israeli Ministry of Health estimated the number of infections in the city of Jerusalem at about 16,000 and the number of deaths from complications of thecorona virus by more than 140 deaths.
Despite this, the occupation authorities’violations against Jerusalemites did not stop. With the beginning of the outbreak of the pandemic, the occupation authorities pursued preventive youth initiatives against the Coronavirus under the pretext of“violating Israeli sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem,”as they prevented young men from sterilizing public facilities and confiscated sterilization tools from them and carried out arrests, in addition to confiscating food parcels. The occupation authorities prevented the placing of educational posters about the virus, and it also prevented corona tests from being carried out in one of the halls in Silwan, under the pretext of being supervised by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In the same context, the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, and the Minister of Jerusalem, Fadi Al-Hidmi, have been arrested, under the pretext of "working to combat the Corona virus and help Jerusalemites in combating the epidemic," in contradiction to the laws of "annexation of Jerusalem," as it considers it an "infringement of Israeli sovereignty" over the city.
Suppression of events and freedoms
The occupation authorities continued to suppress and prevent activities and events in the city of Jerusalem, on the pretext of "being organized or sponsored by the Palestinian Authority or its illegality."
At the beginning of the year, the occupation intelligence prevented the holding of a popular festival against the deal of the century, in Shu’fat refugee camp, as well as a sit-in to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the death of Faisal Al-Husseini at the closed Orient House building in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, by storming the venue of the event and carrying out arrests and handing out summons to the participants.
The occupation authorities also suppressed a demonstration against the killing of Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem, and assaulted the participants, most of whom were girls, with beatings and arrests, and they suppressed a solidarity stand with the head of the Supreme Islamic Authority Sheikh Ekrima Sabri and assaulted the participants with beatings and arrest. They also suppressed a march condemning the insults against the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, which left Al-Aqsa courtyards towards the Old City of Jerusalem.
By decision of the Minister of "Security" in the occupation government, the intelligence individuals and forces closed the "Hope Volunteer Association” in Jerusalem under the pretext that they implemented activities for the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem.
The Minister of Internal Security also renewed the decision to close the Palestine TV office and banits activities everywhere in Jerusalem and Israel, for an additional 6 months, and he had issued the first decision in November 2019.
In August, and in violation of the sanctity of hospitals, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Maqased Hospital twice, the first of which was the day the young man, Mohammad Abu Usba, was wounded, and were stationed in the courtyard of the hospital for hours under the pretext of “checking on the bullet”
In addition, various incursions took place into the headquarters of institutions in Jerusalem, including the Association for Arab Studies, the Yabous Cultural Center and the National Institute of Music in Jerusalem, the “Elia Development and Volunteerism” organization, the headquarters of the “Sharia Education and Preaching and Guidance Directorate” of the Islamic Endowments Department in the Old City of Jerusalem.
