February 2025 in the city of Jerusalem
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem issued its report for the month of February, in which it monitored violations in the city of Jerusalem during this month.
The Information Center said in its monthly report, "Violations continued in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem, and decisions to deport people from Al-Aqsa escalated on the eve of Ramadan, in addition to the continuation of arrest campaigns and demolition operations in the city."
The center said that the exchange deals between Israel and Hamas continued in February, during which dozens of Jerusalemite prisoners were released, most of whom were serving life sentences and high sentences.
Al-Aqsa Mosque... Continuous incursions and ongoing restrictions
The settlers continued their incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Dung Gate, whose keys have been controlled by the occupation authorities since the occupation of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. More than 4,560 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa during the incursions, and the settlers performed their collective and public prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The incursions were concentrated at the beginning of the Hebrew month, in commemorating the "Feast of the Tree", and in commemorating soldiers who participated in the war on Gaza. The restrictions imposed on the entry of worshipers to Al-Aqsa continued, especially on Fridays, by setting up barriers on the roads leading to it, stationing themselves at its gates, and subjecting those arriving to searches and checking their identities. Many young men were also prevented from entering Al-Aqsa and pursued in the alleys of the Old City, and were kept away from the gates of Al-Aqsa to prevent them from praying there.
Demolition and eviction decisions haunt Jerusalemites
In February, the District Court rejected the appeal filed against the decision to demolish the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in the town of Silwan, and approved the municipal court’s decision to demolish the center, which had been issued before July 2024. The court set the date for the demolition to be next July, in addition to imposing a fine of 20,000 shekels on the center’s director, Jawad Siam.
The District Court also rejected the appeal filed by the Diab family against the decision to evict them from their homes in "Karm al-Jaouni" in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and gave the family until 20/5/2025 to implement the eviction decision. The family has been living in their three homes for 50 years, and Jewish entities claim ownership of the land on which the residents' properties in "Karm al-Jaouni" are built.
The Jerusalemite Bashar al-Aloul was handed a decision to evict his shop in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and demanded him to pay a quarter of a million shekels as "retroactive rent" for the past 7 years, on the pretext that the land is owned by a settlement company. The Qana'a Grocery opened in 1951. Al-Aloul began his struggle in the courts in 2010 to protect his shop and home in light of the threat of eviction, stressing that he is a "protected tenant."
Settlement plans and non-stop confiscations
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem said that the occupation municipality and the "Nature and Parks Authority" continue to implement settlement projects in the city.
In the town of Silwan, the occupation authorities placed a sign on the "Silwan Children's Cemetery" to prevent burying children there, and placed a sign on the cemetery’s land "Burial in the area is prohibited", and the town's children have been buried in the cemetery for nearly a century after the late Hassan Salem Darwish Rweidi gave the land to allocate it for burying children, and its area is about a Dunom and a half.
The occupation authorities also placed a sign on a plot of land in the Al-Sowaneh neighborhood, indicating its temporary confiscation for five years under the pretext of "establishing gardening works for the benefit of the public". This area is targeted by national parks projects and paths for settlers, and the land is considered an extension of other plots of land in the area that were confiscated and turned into gardens.
The occupation authorities also announced two projects in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem. The first is to build settlement units on an area of 17 dunoms, where “318 housing units” will be built. The second plan is to build a religious school on an area of 5 dunoms, comprising “11 floors.”
Threats to deport prisoners and their families from Jerusalem
In mid-February, Israeli Minister of Interior Moshe Arbel decided to deport three Jerusalemites from the city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of "supporting and endorsing terrorism." At the end of the month, he revealed a recommendation from the Ministry of Defense to deport 20 Jerusalemite families from the city and revoke their Israeli identity or citizenship.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center/Jerusalem explained that the Jerusalemites against whom deportation decisions were issued are: prisoner Tasneem Odeh, daughter of martyr Barakat Odeh who was martyred in 2022; prisoner Mohammad Abu al-Hawa, brother of martyr Adam Abu al-Hawa who was martyred in 2023; and freed prisoner Zeina Barbar, "who was released in the current exchange deal," and she is the daughter of freed prisoner Majd Barbar who spent 20 years in prison.
As for the recommendation to deport 20 families, it included a request to deport Yazan Farroukh, son of Mohammad Farroukh who was released in the first exchange deal. The father was arrested and sentenced to 19 years in prison, and the request included another against Sayed Abed Fteiha, the brother of the freed Jerusalemite prisoner Nawal Fteiha, who was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 8 years in prison, and was released in the exchange deal last month, as revealed by Israeli media.
In November 2024, the Knesset approved a bill stipulating the "deportation of family members of those who carry out armed operations against Israeli targets", if they had prior knowledge of the operation or glorified and supported the operation after it was carried out. According to the law, the deportation order for an "Israeli citizen" is not less than 7 years and not more than 15 years, and in the case of a "permanent or temporary resident" for a period of not less than 10 years and not more than 20 years.
Non-stop deportations
Deportation decisions escalated during the month of February, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored more than 120 decisions to deport Jerusalemites from Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Old City, place of residence, streets and neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and to prevent them from entering the West Bank.
The Information Center said that the Jerusalemite prisoners who were released in previous exchange batches during the months of January and February were handed decisions to deport them from Al-Aqsa Mosque for a period of 6 months. The Information Center had monitored the deportation decisions since the first day of the release of the prisoners, as the prisoner is informed before his release at the "Al-Maskoubiya" police station that he is prohibited from entering Al-Aqsa and is required to head to the Al-Qishla police center, and upon his arrival he is handed the decision to ban him from him from Al-Aqsa.
The center said that among those deported from Al-Aqsa is the released prisoner Khaled Halabi, who is Christian.
The occupation authorities also renewed the decision to prevent the Governor of Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith and Shadi Mtour, Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Jerusalem, from entering the West Bank.
Jerusalem bookshops... Pursued by incursions and closures!
In the context of targeting the cultural situation in the city of Jerusalem, the occupation authorities carried out raids on 3 bookshops in the city: "The Jerusalem Bookshop and the Scientific Bookshop", and confiscated various books from them, including those containing the Palestinian flag or dealing with the Palestinian issue. They also arrested their owners on the pretext of selling "incitement books."
The Jerusalem Bookshop in the Old City was closed for 30 days, and its owner was arrested for 11 days, while the two owners of the Scientific Bookshop were arrested and detained for one day.
Education and students in danger
In February, Israeli Ministry of Education crews stormed three UNRWA schools in Jerusalem, as well as the Qalandia Training Center in the camp, and demanded their closure.
UNRWA said in a statement that Israeli forces and members of the Jerusalem Municipality stormed the Qalandia Training Center by force and issued orders for its immediate evacuation, despite the presence of 350 students and 30 employees in the center. Tear gas and sound bombs were also fired during the raid.
The Knesset passed a law in October 2024 banning UNRWA’s activities inside Israel, in addition to another law banning contact with it.
In early February, the occupation police prevented the entry of textbooks teaching the Palestinian curriculum into the Al-Aqsa School, and arrested one of the teachers.
Arrests
The occupation authorities continued their arrest campaigns in the city of Jerusalem, where they carried out hundreds of arrests, including children, youth, women and the elderly, in addition to arresting hundreds of young men from the West Bank on the pretext of "illegal residence in the city of Jerusalem".
The occupation authorities escalated the administrative detention decisions against young Jerusalemite men.
The police said in a statement that they arrested 100 owners of commercial establishments from Jerusalem, because Palestinian workers were staying overnight without a permit.
The police said that since the beginning of the war on Gaza, they have submitted about 1,000 requests to open an investigation against Palestinians on the pretext of "incitement", and the Israeli Public Prosecution approved 500 of them.
The prosecution submitted 160 indictments on the pretext of "incitement", while the police opened 120 other files "on suspicion of incitement".
Demolition and displacement
The occupation municipality continued to carry out demolition operations or force Jerusalemites to self-demolish their homes, under the pretext of building without a permit. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem monitored 15 demolition operations in the city of Jerusalem, including 4 facilities demolished by their owners "self-demolition" by a decision from the municipality.
The Information Center said that the demolitions last February targeted homes.
The Information Center said that the police closed 4 commercial facilities in Jerusalem last month, under the pretext of "employing young men with West Bank IDs without permits."
The Israeli police said in a statement that since the beginning of this year 2025, it has closed about 20 commercial stores for the same reason.
Prisoner Exchange Deal... and Jerusalemite Prisoners
On January 20, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect, after 470 days of war, and 3 batches of prisoner exchanges were carried out from the first stage, and in February, 4 batches of prisoner exchanges were carried out.
In February, 48 male and female prisoners from Jerusalem were released, "holding Israeli/blue ID cards", and the batches were as follows:
• The fifth batch on February 4, 2025: Four Jerusalemite prisoners "with high sentences" were released.
• The sixth batch on February 15, 2025: Six Jerusalemite prisoners with life sentences were released, and 2 prisoners were deported outside the Palestinian territories.
• The seventh batch, on February 27, 2025: 16 Jerusalemite prisoners were released, including those with life sentences, long sentences, and those released in the Shalit deal “who were re-arrested,” and 11 of them were deported outside the Palestinian territories.
In order to prevent any manifestation of the deal and the release of prisoners and the moment the prisoner meets his family and arrives at his home in the city of Jerusalem, the days of the exchange deals witnessed harassing measures against the families of the prisoners, most notably summons, storming homes, and arresting family members.
The center said that the release procedures included, "as in previous batches," the intelligence service summoning the detainee's family member to the Al-Maskobyeh Police “Room 4” Center, and informing him of the release conditions: "No gathering during the prisoner's reception, no raising of flags and banners, and no launching of firecrackers." The intelligence service, accompanied by police officers, took each prisoner to his home.
The occupation intelligence service, accompanied by police, also carried out repeated raids on the homes of prisoners who were to be released in the exchange batches, especially on the day of the deal, and deliberately threatened family members, searched and vandalized homes.
The center explained that the release of the seventh batch was scheduled for Saturday, "22/2/2025," and the families were summoned to the “Room 4” Center, detained, and their homes were raided and surrounded for several hours, but the decision was made to suddenly suspend the release.
Prisoners of the exchange deal: Pursuit and harassment
In pursuit of the prisoners of the exchange deal, the occupation authorities carried out raids on the homes of a number of prisoners and their surroundings during the month of February, and imposed random violations against the prisoners and their families, including "the presence of papers in front of the door of the house, and the presence of writings on the walls."
The occupation forces also arrested a freed female prisoner and interrogated her for several hours at the police station.
The occupation authorities also filed an indictment against the freed prisoner Ashraf Zghayyar, from the town of Kufor Aqab, and two members of his family, on the pretext of "traffic violations they committed during the celebration of his release on January 25th."
The charges against them are: "being a passenger in a vehicle with part of his body outside, not wearing a seat belt, and careless behavior on the road."
On the day that Ashraf Zghayyar was released, the occupation forces stormed his home and arrested his brother after completely vandalizing the homes and assaulting those present, and then they arrested 12 of his family members and friends.
The occupation authorities also prevented the Jerusalemite prisoners who were released and returned to the city from reaching and praying in Al-Aqsa, after issuing immediate ban decisions prohibiting their entry to the mosque.
Raiding a mourning house
The occupation forces stormed the mourning house of community activist Musa Qaws in the Old City of Jerusalem, assaulted those present, and arrested the deceased's brother.
Musa Qaws died as a result of a fire in his home in the Old City of Jerusalem, and his daughter Shaden Qaws was under arrest and was released after his burial. Shaden learned of the news of her father's death from the forces that stormed her prison cell and informed her of the death of her father.
