August 2023 in the city of Jerusalem
Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Jerusalem issued its report on the month of August 2023, during which it monitored the violations and attacks on the holy places, Jerusalemites and their property in the city; by continuing the firing of bullets and the arrest campaigns and the demolition operations, and the issuing of deportation orders, in addition to the incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Two martyrs...and continuing to detain martyrs’ bodies
On 17/8/2023, the Jerusalemite Ahmed Abu Sneineh was martyred due to injuries he sustained two years ago during the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attack on the worshipers during the Al-Taraweeh prayer in 2021.
Ahmed Abu Sneineh was hit by a rubber bullet in the head, causing him to fracture his skull and lose his eye, and since his injury he suffered medical negligence in providing him with the necessary treatment, which led to the deterioration of his health.
On 30/8/2023, the 14-year-old Jerusalemite Khalid Samer Za'anin was shot dead at the light rail station in Jerusalem, under the pretext of carrying out a stabbing operation at the light rail station.
The information center said that the occupation authorities continue to detain the bodies of thirteen Jerusalemite 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), the martyr Karim Jamal al-Qawasmi (since March 2022), the body of martyr Uday Al-Tamimi (since October 2022), the body of Amer Hussam Halabiya (since November 2022), the body of the martyr Khairy Alqam (since January 2023), the body of martyr Hussein Qaraqe’ (since February 2023), the body of the martyr Ishaq Ajlouni (since June 2023) and the body of martyr Khaled Za’anin (since August 2023).
Firing bullets
On 18/8/2023, the Israeli occupation forces fired at the 14-year-old Jerusalemite boy Abdurrahman Amer al-Zaghal, in the town of Silwan, and he was hit by a bullet in the head and by other bullet fragments in the lower part of his body, and he was arrested and transferred to the hospital while under arrest, and several sessions were held for him in absentia on suspicion of "throwing Molotov cocktails towards a settlement outpost".
On 18/8/2023, the Jerusalemite Raed Khalaf Al-Khatib was shot by the Israeli forces during the storming of the Shu’fat refugee camp in the city of Jerusalem, and the soldiers shot at the young man's vehicle during the storming of the camp.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
The settlers' intrusions into Al-Aqsa Mosque continued, during the daily morning and afternoon incursion periods, except on Fridays and Saturdays, through the Dung Gate, whose keys have been controlled by the occupation authorities since the occupation of Jerusalem. Settlers' prayers also continued in the Al-Aqsa squares and at its gates from the outside, and hundreds of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa in celebration of the "Hebrew New Year".
On 25/8/2023, the Israeli forces attacked the worshipers during their flock to Al-Aqsa to perform the Friday prayer, in the Lions Gate area "inside and outside Al-Aqsa", with stun grenades and rubber bullets, in addition to firing live bullets into the air. Four injuries were recorded, including a woman with a broken leg.
Fighting the Palestinian curriculum... banning activities
At the end of last month, and with the beginning of the school year in the city of Jerusalem, the occupation forces confiscated the "Palestinian textbooks" while they were being transported to the "Bilara" school, and the forces arrested the driver and the employee responsible for delivering the textbooks to the school.
At the beginning of August, the Israeli authorities, by a decision of the "Minister of National Security, Itamar Bin Gavir", prevented a party to honor the high school students "Tawjihi" at the Silwan club, by placing the ban-order several hours before the ceremony, and arresting the president of the club and summoning one of its members and handing them the ban order, under the pretext of "being organized by the Palestinian Authority".
Continuous demolition
The occupation municipality continued to carry out the demolition operations and to force the residents of Jerusalem to self-demolish their facilities, under the pretext of "building without a permit".
Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 10 demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem during the month of August, half of which were carried out by their owners, to avoid paying "financial fines/demolition fees for municipal teams and machinery".
The center explained that the demolition operations included: houses, parts of a house, a residential barracks, commercial, animal, and agricultural facilities.
The Israeli municipality stepped up the "distribution of demolition warnings and notices", during the month of August in the towns and neighborhoods of the city of Jerusalem, and the most prominent was the distribution of approximately 60 demolition notices to the industrial and commercial facilities in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in the city, in order to establish the Silicon Valley "Hi-tech" project, on the ruins of the industrial area, which is the only Arabic industrial zone in the city of Jerusalem.
The authorities also distributed warnings and summons to the municipality in the al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan, and the municipality is threatening to demolish the entire neighborhood to build a "garden" on the ruins of the houses.
Arrests
The Israeli occupation authorities continued the arrests in the city of Jerusalem, during the last month of August, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 133 cases of arrests, including "3 children under the age of responsibility/under 12 years old, 13 boys, and 5 girls".
During the past month, the Israeli authorities renewed for the second time in a row the administrative detention against the Jerusalemite MP Ahmed Attoun and the former minister for Jerusalem affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh.
Deputy Attoun and former minister Abu Arafeh were deported from Jerusalem after a decision was issued by the Minister of Interior in the occupation government to withdraw the "Israeli identities" from the MP’s Ahmed Attoun, Mohammad Abu Teir, and Mohammad Totah, and the former minister for Jerusalem affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh under the pretext of "disloyalty to the State of Israel" after their participation in the legislative council elections in 2006. They were all subjected to actual arrest, and they were released in 2010, and MP Abu Teir was deported from Jerusalem, while the rest announced the open sit-in at the Red Cross headquarters in opposition to the deportation decisions, and after more than a year and a half in the sit-in, they were all arrested, then they were released and deported from the city of Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem explained that the Israeli intelligence continued its policy of "arresting the freed prisoners as soon as they were released from prison after the end of their prison sentences", and releasing them hours after the arrest under conditions; the most prominent of which were "deportation from Jerusalem and the prohibition of the celebrations and the prohibition of raising flags and banners in addition to the prohibition of using fireworks.”
Deportations
The occupation authorities continued to issue deportation orders, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 32 deportation orders from "Jerusalem, the Old City of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Jarrah, and from the place of residence". The deportation periods ranged between 1 week and 6 months.
