July 2024 in the city of Jerusalem
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem issued its report for last July, during which it monitored violations in the city of Jerusalem.
Violations continued in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem during the past month, in addition to the continuation of arrest campaigns and demolitions in the city.
A Jerusalemite martyr and the detention of bodies
14/7/2023: The young Jerusalemite, Mohammad Ghaleb Shihab, was killed after being shot, under the pretext of "carrying out a run-over operation" in the city of Ramla, and his body was detained.
The forces stormed the young man Shihab's house in the town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, and conducted field investigations with his family members, and summoned some of them for investigation.
The occupation authorities continue the policy of "detaining the bodies of martyrs in refrigerators and in the numbered graves", and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that the bodies of 25 Jerusalemite martyrs are still being detained in refrigerators or in the numbered graves, and they are:
1. Martyr Mesbah Abu Sbeih; since October 2016
2. Martyr Fadi Al-Qunbar; since January 2017
3. Martyr Aziz Aweisat; since May 2018
4. Martyr Shaher Abu Khadija; since May 2021
5. Martyr Zuhdi Al-Taweel; since May 2021
6. Martyr Fadi Abu Shkheidem; since November 2021
7. Martyr Karim Jamal Al-Qawasmi; since March 2022
8. Martyr Uday Al-Tamimi; since October 2022
9. Martyr Amer Halabiya; since November 2022
10. Martyr Khairy Alqam; since January 2023
11. Martyr Hussein Qaraqe; since February 2023
12. Martyr Ishaq Al-Ajlouni; since June 2023
13. Martyr Khaled Al-Za’anin; since August 2023
14. Martyr Ali Al-Abbasi; since October 2023
15. Martyr Abdel Rahman Faraj; since October 2023
16. Martyr Khaled Al-Muhtaseb; since October 2023
17. Martyr Adam Abulhawa; since October 2023
18. Martyr Mohammad Omar Al-Farroukh (minor); since November 2023
19. Martyr Murad Nimer; since November 2023
20. Martyr Ibrahim Nimer; since November 2023
21. Martyr Ahmad Alayan; since December 2023
22. Martyr Wadi’ Alayan; since February 2024
23. Martyr Fadi Jamjoum; since February 2024
24. Martyr Nour Nizar Shihabi, since May 2024
25. Mohammad Ghaleb Shihab, since July 2024
Al-Aqsa Mosque… Governmental Raid and Threats
Thousands of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of July, and the number of invaders exceeded 3,300 extremists, led by the Minister of National Security in the occupation government, Itamar Ben Gavir, who stormed Al-Aqsa during the morning raids on the eighteenth of last month.
Ben Gavir said in a speech in Al-Aqsa: "I came to pray for the kidnapped and for their return to their homes without an illegal deal and without surrender, and I am working hard so that the Prime Minister can achieve this, the strength is not to retreat and to continue until victory."
Since Ben Gavir assumed his position as a minister in the occupation government in 2022, he has carried out 5 raids on Al-Aqsa, including two times during the war "last May and July."
In late July, ministers and Knesset members held a conference to discuss imposing sovereignty over Al-Aqsa entitled “Israel’s Return to the Temple Mount.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir said: “I am the political level, and the political level allows Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.” He referred to his storming of Al-Aqsa days before the conference, confirming that he prayed inside it.
The restrictions imposed on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa continued on Fridays, represented by setting up checkpoints on the roads leading to Al-Aqsa and stationing at its gates, subjecting those coming to it to search and checking their identities, subjecting young men to search, preventing them from entering Al-Aqsa, 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, to prevent them from praying at its gates. The restrictions imposed on the entry of Muslims from "Turkey, South Africa, and Britain" to Al-Aqsa continued, by stopping them, checking their identification papers and photographing them, and preventing them from entering Al-Aqsa. On July 6, the occupation authorities prevented thousands of worshipers from entering Al-Aqsa, and imposed a siege on the Old City, from the morning hours until the afternoon hours, when it was decided to “honor the pilgrims in Al-Aqsa.” The forces set up barricades at the gates of Al-Aqsa and on its roads, and assaulted the worshipers and forcibly removed them from the Old City, where the worshipers performed Friday prayers outside the walls of the Old City, especially in the area of “Damascus Gate and Lions Gate,” in addition to prayers in the alleys of the city “on the thresholds of Al-Aqsa.”
Settlements…Seizure of an apartment and threatening 3 buildings
Last July, settlers seized the home of Jawad Abu Nab in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, several days after the "District Court's decision" that rejected the appeal submitted by Abu Nab against the decision to evict him from his home.
Jawad Abu Nab's home has been uninhabited since 2015, as the house remained without residents due to their inability to reach it, as it is located in the middle of a settlement outpost and the family was not allowed to use the outposts' road to reach the house. Despite the family's ability to object to the decision of the District Court to the Supreme Court, the settlers seized it and began renovation work inside it.
Last July, the District Court rejected the appeal of 4 Jerusalemite families "Al-Rajabi, Ghaith, Abu Nab" against the decisions to evict them from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan, and the court gave the families 90 days to object to the eviction decisions in the Supreme Court.
The Ateret Cohanim Association claims that 5200 square meters of land in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood have been owned by Jews from Yemen since 1881. Since 2015, the association has been delivering notices and judicial notices to families in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood to evict them from their homes. The threatened area is home to 87 families, comprising between 600-680 people, and all families are facing judicial decisions and notices in the “Magistrate, District, and Supreme” courts.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court rejected the Shehadeh family's appeal to evict them from their homes in the neighborhood early last June. Thirty-two members of the Shehadeh family live in three apartments.
The court issued a decision to evict the "Castro Café" in the Al-Musrara neighborhood in Jerusalem, in favor of the settlers, on the pretext that it is Jewish property.
Decision to demolish the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan
The occupation municipal court issued a decision to demolish the Wadi Hilweh Information Center-Jerusalem in Silwan within a year, in addition to imposing a fine of 20 thousand shekels on its director, Jawad Siam. If he does not implement the decision within the specified period, the municipality will carry out the demolition, and will impose a "demolition fee" on the municipality and the accompanying forces.
The building threatened with demolition is a single room with a total area of approximately 35 square meters. It existed before the occupation. In 2009, the room's ceiling was restored to protect it from rainy weather conditions, by replacing the "zinc sheets with wooden panels." The municipality issued a demolition decision at the time, then it was frozen for years "under the pretext of the sensitivity of the center's location." In 2019, the demolition and prosecution file returned to the center's director, Siam. The sessions focused on the activities of the director, Jawad, and the delegations that comes to the center, in addition to the center's work in covering various violations in the city. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in the town of Silwan is located at the entrance to the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, the neighborhood closest to the southern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and overlooks it directly. It is several meters away from the so-called "City of David," the main settlement outpost in the neighborhood. This neighborhood is threatened by settlement "with its various projects and settlement outposts" above ground, and the digging of a network of tunnels underground to implement various projects.
Demolition and displacement
The occupation authorities escalated the demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem during last July, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored 35 demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem, Silwan, Anata, Issawiya, Jabal Al-Mukabber, Sur Baher, Al-Tur, Beit Hanina, and Umm Tuba. The demolition operations included: buildings, apartments, commercial, agricultural, and animal facilities, fences, and sheet covers.
At the end of July, the occupation forces bulldozed a plot of land belonging to the Alayan family in Beit Safafa, in preparation for expanding a settlement building in the area.
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued to carry out arrests in the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored approximately 120 arrests, including 40 young men with "West Bank IDs" under the pretext of entering Jerusalem illegally, 11 women, and 22 children and youth.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center explained that among the arrests was a young man who was arrested after being shot in the village of Issawiya, and his health condition is critical.
The Knesset approves in the first reading the classification of UNRWA as a terrorist organization
The Israeli Knesset General Assembly approved in the first reading a bill to classify the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as a "terrorist organization."
At the end of last May, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading the bill initiated by MK Yulia Milinovsky from the "Yisrael Beiteinu" party, which classifies UNRWA as a "terrorist organization" and cancels the immunity and privileges granted to it.
Under the bill, any relationship between the State of Israel and the UN agency will be terminated, whether directly or indirectly, and the organization and its employees will be treated as a “terrorist organization” under the Anti-Terrorism Law.
