August 2022…A martyr…an escalation in demolitions…continuous arrests
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center issued its monthly report for the month of August, during which it monitored the Israeli violations in Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the occupation authorities escalated the process of demolishing homes in the city, and continued the daily arrests, and the "alleged temple groups" escalated their targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
A martyr and the continuation of detaining the bodies
In mid-August (15/8/2022), the young man, Muhammad Al-Shaham, from the town of Kufor Aqab, north of Jerusalem, was martyred, after storming his house.The forces shot him immediately after storming his house, and from zero distance, and the occupation authorities continue to detain his body.
The information center said that the occupation authorities continue to detain the bodies of seven Jerusalem martyrs in refrigerators: the body of the martyr Mesbah Abu Sbeih (since October 2016), the body of the martyr Fadi al-Qunbar (since January 2017), the body of the martyr Aziz Aweisat (since May 2018), and the two martyrs Shaher Abu Khadija and Zuhdi al-Tawil (since May 2021), the martyr Fadi Abu Shkheidem (since November 2021), and the martyr Karim Jamal al-Qawasmi (since March 2022).
Al-Aqsa Mosque
The "alleged temple groups" continued their storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as part of the "daily incursions program" guarded and supported by the occupation police.
Thousands of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa, especially on August 8th, the anniversary of the so-called “destruction of the Temple”, when 2,201 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa on that day, in the form of successive groups, amid strict measures that prevented worshipers under the age of 50 from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the dawn and noon prayers, and restrictions on entering worshipers began from the dawn prayer until three in the afternoon.
The settlers performed public and collective prayers during the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the prayers were concentrated in the eastern region at “Al-Rahmeh Gate” and at the “Lions Gate”, as well as during the exit from “Al-Silsileh Gate”. The settlers who were among the groups raised the Israeli flag at Al-Silsileh Gate.
The forces beat and pushed the worshipers in Al-Aqsa, and carried out separate arrests of women, young men and the elderly, and also attacked the worshipers stationed at Al-Hadeed Gate and carried out arrests to keep them away from the place.
In a dangerous escalation that took place at the end of August, the occupation officers allowed a group of settlers to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Lions Gate. A group of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa through Dung Gate, and upon reaching the eastern part of Al-Aqsa, they performed prayers. The police forced them to exit through Lions Gate and then returned and allowed some of them to enter to complete their storming of Al-Aqsa "on condition of not performing any prayers inside the mosque", which the "alleged temple groups" described as a great success in storming Al-Aqsa through another gate"other than the Dung Gate".
The occupation authorities continued to issue deportation decisions against Jerusalemites, as the Information Center monitored 34 expulsion decisions, including 28 expulsion decisions from Al-Aqsa Mosque, 5 from the Old City, and one from Jerusalem.
Demolition and displacement
The occupation municipality escalated demolitions in the city of Jerusalem during the month of August, whether by using its mechanisms to implement the demolition decisions or forcing the owners of the facilities to demolish them their own hands. The center monitored 18 demolition operations in the city, including 10 houses, part of a house, foundations of a house “Concrete base", 5 commercial establishments, and stores.
The center pointed out that 10 demolitions were carried out by their owners, in order to avoid paying fines, "demolition fee for the municipality's bulldozers and vehicles and the crews and forces accompanying them."
The Information Center stated that the Nature and Parks Authority's crews demolished, early last August, a warehouse belonging to the Abu Hadwan family in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan, to implement its plan on the site to be a road to the "City of David" settlement and from there to the Umayyad palaces. The Nature and Parks Authority’s crews also built a room in the place.
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued daily arrests in the city of Jerusalem, and the information center monitored 148 arrests in the city, including 30 minors and 7 women.
The center explained that the arrests were concentrated in the town of Silwan, with 37 arrests recorded, then 23 arrests from the Old City, 19 arrests from Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates, 16 arrests from Issawiya, 13 arrests from Al-Tur, in addition to separate arrests from the towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
The center added that among the detainees last August was the governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, who was arrested after storming his house in the town of Silwan, and presented to him an indictment that included, according to the occupation prosecutor's claim, "17 violations of the decision to prevent him from entering the West Bank since the moment the decision was issued." The court decided to release the governor on condition of house arrest until the end of the legal procedures against him.
The occupation authorities have been prosecuting the governor of Jerusalem, since he took office in August 2018, with repeated arrests, which amounted to 34 arrests, and imposed several restrictions on him, most notably “house arrest in his place of residence in Silwan, and issued several decisions against him, including: travel ban, entry ban to the West bank, ban on participation in any event in Jerusalem, a bank on leaving Silwan and actual house arrest.
The center indicated that the occupation authorities transferred 3 Jerusalemites to administrative detention.
