June 2024 in the city of Jerusalem
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem issued its report for June 2024, during which it monitored violations in the city of Jerusalem.
During the past month, violations continued at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem, in addition to the continuation of arrests and demolition campaigns.
Al-Aqsa Mosque: incursions and violations
Thousands of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque last June, during incursion periods, which were carried out through the Dung Gate - the keys of which have been controlled by the occupation authorities since the occupation of Jerusalem.
During the month of June, approximately 5,200 extremist Jewish settlers and students carried out incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque. The largest incursions were carried out on the so-called “Jerusalem Unification Day,” the anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem, with 1,601 settlers storming Al-Aqsa, and on the anniversary of the so-called “descent of the Torah,” with 668 settlers storming it.
Several serious violations were recorded, including for the first time in Al-Aqsa on the so-called “Jerusalem Unification Day,” (the occupation of East Jerusalem), the most prominent of which was the storming of the Minister of Development of the Negev and Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, member of the Knesset, Yitzhak Kreutzer, and dozens of rabbis, and their presiding over collective prayers in Al-Aqsa, and providing explanations about the alleged temple, in addition to raising the Israeli flag several times, praying in it, and taking pictures, and holding dance and singing circles and collective prayers in several areas in Al-Aqsa, chanting the Israeli anthem, wearing a rabbi’s “tefillin amulet” for prayer inside the synagogue, and settlers wearing T-shirts bearing the phrase “The Temple Mount is in our hands”, and a picture of the demolition of Al-Aqsa and the building of the Temple in its place, or the placement of posters for the Temple. On this day, restrictions were imposed on Muslims entering Al-Aqsa.
In a violation recorded in Al-Aqsa Mosque on the “Arafeh Day”, an electric vehicle belonging to the occupation police drove around Al-Aqsa while raising the Israeli flag.
On Eid al-Adha, restrictions were imposed on Muslims entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained in its monthly report that the occupation authorities began imposing restrictions on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa from the dawn prayer of the first day of Eid al-Adha, by preventing young men from entering the mosque, and before the time of Eid prayer, the forces tightened the restrictions and procedures by preventing all worshipers “young men, children, boys, women, and families” from entering, and allowed a small number of worshipers to enter Al-Aqsa, and the worshipers were assaulted by beating, detention, and deporting them from the vicinity of Al-Aqsa. Due to the severe restrictions, only 40,000 worshipers performed Eid prayers at Al-Aqsa.
The restrictions imposed on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa continued on Fridays, by preventing boys and young men from entering to perform prayers, subjecting them to searches, pursuing them in the alleys of the Old City and removing them from it, and keeping them away from the gates and thresholds of Al-Aqsa, in addition to spreading and stationing at the gates of Al-Aqsa, and setting up checkpoints on the roads leading to it.
The restrictions imposed on the entry of Muslims from “Turkey, South Africa, and Britain” to Al-Aqsa continued, by stopping them, examining their identification papers, photographing them, and preventing them from entering.
Attacks on funerals were also recorded as they were entering or leaving Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Settlers' attacks... shooting and attacks on property
Last June, settler attacks in the city of Jerusalem escalated, and the most prominent attack was the shooting at the Jerusalemite merchant Bassam Barakat and his two sons in front of his commercial shop in the bazaar market in the Old City.
The Information Center explained that the merchant Sinan Bassam Barakat was injured in the right upper arm and leg, and his father was injured by bullet fragments in the head, by settlers’ bullets who stormed the bazaar market in the Old City of Jerusalem. They initially provoked the merchants by repeating phrases against Arabs and Muslims, and deliberately directing insults, in addition to trying to sabotage the contents of the stalls in front of the shops.
On the so-called “Jerusalem Unification Day,” dozens of attacks were recorded against Jerusalemites and their shops in the Old City of Jerusalem, attacking shops and forcing their owners to close them, vandalizing the contents, threatening the owners of open shops, directing insults, obscene expressions and gestures, and spraying pepper gas at them.
During the "annual flags march", on the so-called "Jerusalem Unification Day", and in the Damascus Gate area, the settlers' gathering point where prayers and dances are held, the settlers chanted racist slogans, including insulting the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and chanting slogans calling for the burning of Palestinian villages and camps. They also directed profanity and gestures during the march, and attacked press crews.
The Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gavir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Heritage Minister Amichai Elyiahu, Chairman of the Constitution, Judiciary and Law Committee Simha Rotman, and other Knesset members participated in the “flags march”.
At the end of last June, settlers stormed the Al-Khalidi family’s property in the Old City of Jerusalem, after removed its locks, claiming to have bought it. They changed the locks and installed cameras.
The family immediately went to the police, demanding that the settlers be removed from it, and presented all the papers proving their ownership of the property. The next day, a session was held in the “magistrate Court,” which decided to remove the settlers from the property and not to use it by the family until the ownership issue was decided, setting a date for the session after two days. Indeed, the court approved the family’s ownership of the property, which is an endowment for the Al-Khalidi family.
The property consists of 3 floors with a total area of 200 square meters, directly overlooking the Al-Buraq Wall and several meters away from Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Settlers' attacks also continued, sabotaging the tires of vehicles and throwing stones in several streets in Jerusalem, especially Street No. 1.
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued daily arrests from the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 1,043 arrests in the city, including more than 900 arrests of Palestinians holding a “West Bank or Gaza Strip ID,” under the pretext of residing or attempting to enter Jerusalem illegally. The arrests included women, boys and children.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem explained that the Public Prosecution filed an indictment against Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, 85 years old - the head of the Supreme Islamic Council and the Imam and preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque - and it included “encouraging terrorism and incitement, by praising the martyrs and visiting their families.”
Among those detained during the month of June was the young man Sinan Barakat after he was wounded by settlers’ bullets. An extension session was held for him in absentia while he was receiving treatment in the hospital, in addition to arresting his brother Anas.
Demolition
The occupation municipality continued to carry out demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem during last June, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 21 demolition operations in the city, including “9 demolitions carried out by their owners” in order to avoid paying financial fines and demolition fees to the municipality, “its vehicles and crews” and the forces accompanying it, and the operations included the demolition of residential buildings, houses, residential barracks, commercial and animal facilities.
The demolition operations were concentrated in the towns and neighborhoods of Jerusalem, mainly "Jabal Al-Mukabber, Anata, Issawiya, and Silwan."
