September 2023 in the city of Jerusalem
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center issued its monthly report for September 2023, during which it monitored Israeli violations in the city of Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the occupation authorities and settlers continued their attacks on holy sites, Jerusalemites, and their property in the city during September, as settlers escalated their raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the occupation authorities continued to fire bullets, carry out arrest campaigns, demolition operations, travel bans, and issue deportation decisions.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
The alleged Temple groups carried out daily raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays, as part of the “morning and afternoon” incursions program, and in the middle of last month, in preparation for the season of the three Jewish holidays, “New Year, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot,” the Temple organizations and groups mobilized and prepared to carry out the largest raids into Al-Aqsa during the holidays.
The most prominent incursions into Al-Aqsa
• 17/9/2023, “the Hebrew New Year”, 423 extremists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and one of the settlers blew a trumpet “announcing the start of the Hebrew New Year” from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the settlers also performed their collective and public prayers during the storming of Al-Aqsa.
The occupation authorities imposed restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshipers to Al-Aqsa, preventing those under the age of 50 from entering, and the forces began imposing restrictions from the dawn hours until before the afternoon, “after the end of the incursions period.”
• 24-25/9/2023 “Yom Kippur”, 1,144 extremists stormed Al-Aqsa and performed their prayers during the storming of Al-Aqsa.
The occupation forces also imposed restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa, preventing some from entering it, detaining ID cards at the gates of the mosque, and deporting and pursuing worshipers present in Al-Aqsa during the period of incursions.
At the gates of Al-Aqsa, forces were deployed in large numbers during the holidays, and the settlers also performed their prayers at the gates of Al-Aqsa - from the outside -.
In the area of al-Silsileh Gate- one of the gates of Al-Aqsa -, from the outside, the forces attacked those stationed in the place, beating and arresting them, noting that groups of settlers exit through al-Silsileh Gate after completing the storming of Al-Aqsa, and they pray and dance in the place.
Dozens of settlers also invaded the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, located at the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa, and stomped their feet and danced on the graves, under the protection and presence of policemen.
Shooting
The occupation authorities continued to "open fire" in the city of Jerusalem, and on September 21, 2003, the young man, Daoud A’ed Attiya, 19 years old, was seriously injured, after being shot at one of the "light rail" stations at the entrance to the town of Shu’fat, north of Jerusalem, under the pretext of "stabbing” one of the guards at the station.
Fighting the Palestinian curriculum
During last September, the “Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education” continued their attack on school administrations in Jerusalem on the one hand, and the persecution and confiscation of the Palestinian curriculum on the other hand.
At the beginning of September, “the beginning of the academic year,” the Israeli Ministry of Education sent official letters to schools in the city of Jerusalem entitled “Receipt of Educational Textbooks for an Educational Institution by the Jerusalem Municipality,” in which it threatened to revoke the license of the educational institution, in the event of “the distribution of the curriculum that contains inflammatory content,” a reference to the books of the Palestinian curriculum.
During the month of last September, the occupation police stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque arrested Al-Aqsa school students as they were heading to their schools, and confiscated some books from them, noting that the police had a list on which was listed “the names of books that will be confiscated from Al-Aqsa school students, and it is prohibited bringing them into the schools located in Al-Aqsa”. Among the books confiscated from the students were “Arabic for the eighth grade” and “Geography and history for the eleventh grade.”
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued arrests in the city of Jerusalem during the month of September, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 156 cases of arrest in Jerusalem, including “5 children under the age of responsibility/less than 12 years old,” 46 boys, 12 women, including two girls. ".
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that last September, the forces summoned the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, and informed him of the possibility of renewing “the decision to prevent him from entering the West Bank,” and then renewed the decision to “prevent him from entering the West Bank” for a period of 4 months.
The center pointed out that the occupation has imposed house arrest on the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, in his home in the town of Silwan, since August 2022, after the Israeli prosecution submitted an indictment that included “17 violations of the decision preventing him from entering the West Bank from the moment the decision was issued, and today the prosecution is demanding that he be transferred to an actual prison.”
Since Governor Ghaith took office in 2018, several restrictions have been imposed on him and are renewed upon their expiration, most notably “house arrest in his place of residence in Silwan, travel ban, entry ban to the West Bank, and ban on participation in any event in Jerusalem.”
Among those arrested last September was the 17-year-old boy Basil Obeidi, from the village of Jabal Al-Mukabber, south of Jerusalem, on charges of “carrying out a stabbing attack” in the Jaffa Gate area in Jerusalem.
In September, the forces also arrested a woman from the West Bank at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, on charges of “attempting to carry out a stabbing attack on a police officer at Hutta Gate.” The video recordings showed that the woman was severely beaten during the arrest.
During last September, the forces in the villages of Issawiya and Jabal Al-Mukabber posted “threatening leaflets in Arabic,” threatening and warning against “participating in any riots,” according to what was stated in the leaflet, which also included Qur’anic verses and phone numbers for communication. The leaflet specifically mentioned the events that took place in Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, and the leaflet called on the people to “deter their children.”
The Information Center explained that intelligence personnel raided several homes in Jabal Al-Mukabber and Issawiya, for those whose sons were arrested from Al-Aqsa Mosque during the past month of Ramadan, and handed the families the threatening leaflet.
Deportations
The occupation authorities escalated the deportation decisions, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 58 deportation decisions from “Jerusalem, the Old City, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Jarrah, from the place of residence,” and the period of deportation ranges from one week to 6 months. The center noted that among the decisions were 4 that were deported from the city of Jerusalem, and 44 for Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem.
Continuous demolition
The occupation municipality continued to carry out demolition operations and force Jerusalemites to self-demolish their facilities, under the pretext of “building without a license.”
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 22 demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem during the month of September, 9 of which were carried out by their owners, in order to avoid paying “financial fines/demolition fees to municipal crews and vehicles,” and included: houses, parts of houses, rooms, commercial and animal facilities.”
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that the occupation forces carried out 12 demolition operations in the town of Anata, of houses, offices, agricultural and animal facilities, and fences.
In September, the occupation authorities prevented the approximately 50 residents of “Rawabi Issawiya” from using the iron gate and crossing through it to Issawiya and the city of Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that the residents of "Rawabi Issawiya" have been using the iron gate to exit their besieged area for years, after the occupation separated them from the town with the iron wall and the gate, but at the beginning of last month they were suddenly prevented from using it, and the soldiers asked them to go to the Al-Z’ayem checkpoint to move from one place to another, noting that the people of “Rawabi Issawiya” hold the “blue” Israeli ID and work in the city of Jerusalem, and their children study in the schools of the village of Issawiya.
At the end of last September, the forces stormed Al-Maqased Hospital in the town of Al-Tur, and heavily threw bombs at the hospital and in its courtyard.
On Yom Kippur, the occupation forces closed the roads and streets in the city of Jerusalem, and placed cement cubes, iron barriers, and red tape at the entrances and streets of neighborhoods in the city of Jerusalem, especially at the intersections of the roads leading to the settlements established on their lands and the nearby streets leading to them.
