January 2022…Hundreds of arrests and an escalation in the demolition and displacement of Jerusalemites
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem issued its monthly report for the month of January 2022, during which it monitored the attacks and violations carried out by the occupation authorities in the city of Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center confirmed that the occupation municipality escalated the issuing of demolition orders and implementing them in the city, while the forces escalated the campaigns of arrests and deportations.
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued to carry out arrests in the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem, monitored 214 arrests, including "one child/less than the age of responsibility (less than 12 years old), 41 minors, and 4 women."
The information center stated that the occupation forces arrested more than 70 Jerusalemites during the last four days of January, "as the snow began to fall and accumulate," on charges of "throwing snow and stones at the forces, police vehicles and settlers" - the arrests were executed in most of the city's neighborhoods and towns.
A campaign of arrests was also carried out against more than 25 members from the Salhiya family’s home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, before the demolition of the family's homes, as the forces stormed the surrounding land and arrested the young men and boys who were at the site.
The occupation authorities renewed the administrative detention of three Jerusalemites, they are: Representative in the Palestinian Legislative Council Muhammad Abu Ter "for the second time", Amin Shweiki "for the third time", and Majed Al-Jubeh "for the second time".
The occupation authorities also continued to pursue the freed Jerusalemite prisoners, by arresting them at the moment of their release as soon as they exit the prison gate, and transferring them for interrogation to the “Al-Maskobyeh Police Station” in West Jerusalem. Last month, the center monitored the arrest of 4 Jerusalemites.
Demolition
The occupation municipality escalated the demolitions in the city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without a permit. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored the demolition of 34 facilities in the city in January, including 17 “self-demolition” operations carried out by their owners in order to avoid paying heavy fines.
The information center stated that January witnessed the demolition of 15 homes, 11 commercial establishments, two residential rooms, a health center room, a cemetery, and two agricultural containers, in addition to razing lands and fences.
The center stated that the demolitions took place in Sheikh Jarrah,Issawiya, Silwan, Jabal Al-Mukabber, Beit Hanina, Umm Tuba, Shu’fat refugee camp, and Sur Baher.
The information center explained that among the facilities that were demolished last month, the property of the Salhiya family in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which includes two houses and 5 commercial establishments, where the municipality issued a decision to vacate and confiscate the land to build a school for people with special needs, while the family’s lawyer confirmed that the eviction and confiscation process took place ahead of schedule. Therefore, a session was supposed to be held to discuss the appeal against the decision, pointing out that the eviction decision does not include the demolition of the two houses because they are heritage.
The center explained that the municipality’s crews stormed the property of the Salhiya family on January 17th to evict it, and on that day the family sat on the roof of their house and threatened to detonate gas cylinders if they were removed from the two houses. The forces demolished the commercial facilities and destroyed the land before leaving the site. On January 19thth, they stormed the houses at dawn and arrested the young men and evicted the women and children by force and demolished the two houses.
The occupation municipality also continued to issue decisions and demolition orders for facilities in the city of Jerusalem. Last month, it issued a decision to demolish the Al-Taqwa Mosque in Issawiya, which the residents began building several months ago to serve the residents of the area. The locals filed an appeal, and the demolition order was put on hold until mid-February.
The occupation municipality also submitted a petition to the “Local Court” to demolish the Golden Dome and one of the floors of the Al-Rahman Mosque in Beit Safafa, after several weeks of the settlers’ demands to demolish it, on the pretext that its shape is identical to the Dome of the Rock, so that Jerusalem, according to their claim, would not become Mecca. This golden dome is an attempt to show the town as part of a sacred compound in Jerusalem, which forbids the Israelis from entering the village, and is a manifestation of Islamic sovereignty, as they claimed.
Settlers’ attacks
At the end of last month, settlers laid wires around the land of the Salem family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, to control and seize it, while the “Execution and Procedure Department” issued an order to evict the Salem family from their real estate in favor of the settlers, on the pretext that the land on which the house was built belonged to the settlers before 1948./ According to the decision, it will be implemented between the beginning of March until the beginning of April.
Extremist MK Itamar Ben Gavir and Deputy Mayor of the occupation municipality, Arieh King, accompanied by dozens of settlers, toured Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in both its eastern and western parts, provoking the residents by threatening them to seize their homes and expel them from their homes.
Ms. Abeer Abu Jamal from Jabal Al-Mukabber village sustained fractures in the jaw and wounds in the face, after being pelted with stones by settlers while traveling with her vehicle on a bypass road from Ramallah towards Jerusalem.
Deportations
The occupation authorities continued to issue deportation orders. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 17 deportation orders for periods ranging from one week to 6 months, including: 8 expulsion orders from Al-Aqsa Mosque, 5 deportation order from the Old City, 3 deportation orders from Jerusalem, and one order banning entry to the West Bank.
The occupation authorities continued to deport Jerusalemites from the place where they were arrested from. The center monitored the deportation of 30 Jerusalemites from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and from the streets of Jerusalem "Damascus Gate, Sultan Suleiman, and Herods Gate."
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