The Public Relations and Media Unit in the Jerusalem Governorate issued its monthly report on the violations of the Israeli occupation in the Jerusalem Governorate during the month of February 2023, in which it summarized all the violations that were monitored in the neighborhoods and towns of the Jerusalem Governorate.
Martyrs:
On the evening of February 10, settlers shot Hussein Khaled Qaraqe' (32 years old) at the Nabi Samuel intersection, northwest of occupied Jerusalem. As a result, he died of his critical wounds. It is noteworthy that the martyr Qaraqe lives in the town of Issawiya, south of occupied Jerusalem, and is married and the father of three children.
Israeli media claimed that the martyr ran over a group of settlers who were present in the place. After his death, the occupation forces arrested his wife, parents, sisters and brothers.
During the month of February of the year 2023, the occupation authorities detained the body of the martyr Hussein Qaraqe', bringing the number of Jerusalemite martyrs whose bodies the occupation authorities are holding in the occupation's refrigerators and graves to 25 martyrs.
Civil Disobedience:
On February 19, the strike took place in Shuafat camp and each of the towns (Anata, Jabal Mukaber, Al-Isawiya, and Al-Sawahra Al-Gharbia) in the occupied Jerusalem governorate, in implementation of the first steps of civil disobedience, which the national and Islamic forces in Jerusalem called for in response to the daily crimes of the occupation against them and in all Palestinian governorates, from Killings, arrests, house demolitions, and abuse of prisoners, in addition to what the residents of Shuafat camp and Anata town are subjected to in terms of abuse, oppression, and daily attacks on the Shuafat racial barrier.
Clashes erupted between young men and the occupation forces at the entrances to the village of Al-Isawiya, Jabal Al-Mukaber and Shuafat refugee camp, after the implementation of civil disobedience.
Settler attacks:
Settler attacks and provocations increase in frequency every month. During the month of February, settlers carried out about (9) attacks, including two physical assaults. Among the attacks, settlers threw stones at the residents on the road to the town of Beit Iksa in occupied Jerusalem.
Settlers attacked the “imprisonment of Christ” church in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, and on February 6, the deputy mayor of the occupation, Aryeh King, and a group of settlers planted trees on the land of Jerusalemite citizen Fatima Salem in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, in the continuation of a series of confiscation of Jerusalemites’ property.
A number of settlers, under the protection of the occupation forces, attacked citizens' homes in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan, and a number of settlers attacked people's homes in the town of Um Tuba, south of occupied Jerusalem.
On February 22, settlers stormed the town of Beit Iksa in occupied Jerusalem, wrote racist slogans and damaged the tires of a number of vehicles.
Injuries:
During the month of February, the Jerusalem Governorate monitored the casualties resulting from the use of excessive force against Jerusalemites throughout the occupied capital. About 30 injuries were recorded as a result of live and rubber-coated metal bullets and severe beatings by the occupation forces, in addition to hundreds of gas suffocation cases.
Challenges and violations in Al-Aqsa Mosque:
The occupation forces imposed restrictions on the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, harassed the worshipers, searched them, and confiscated their personal identity cards, in conjunction with securing the settlers' incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque. And the Jerusalem governorate monitored the extremist settlers' incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of February, as (3583) settlers stormed the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under the strict protection of the heavily armed special occupation forces.
On February 6, a stone fell from the outer surface of the Dome of the Rock chapel in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and this stone is part of a ceramic tile measuring approximately 20 * 20 cm, which was added to the Dome of the Rock Mosque after the last Egyptian restoration.
Arrests:
The arrests brutally carried out by the occupation forces against the people of Jerusalem governorate continue, as about (165) arrests of citizens were monitored in all areas of Jerusalem governorate during the month of February.
Decisions of the Occupation Courts:
The racist occupation courts issued (35) actual prison sentences against Jerusalemite prisoners, including (14) administrative detention sentences, "that is, without specifying a clear charge against them," in addition to imposing very high financial fines that increase the suffering of their families.
In addition, (30) house arrest decisions issued by the occupation authorities against Jerusalemites, including many children, were monitored. The duration of the issued house arrest decisions ranged from two to 15 days
February witnessed the issuance of deportation orders by the occupation authorities from the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, in an attempt to control Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding areas. They issued about (18) deportation decisions, including (6) deportation decisions from Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The occupation authorities also renewed a travel ban for one of the Jerusalemites.
Demolition and dredging operations:
During the month of February, (41) facilities were demolished and bulldozed in the occupied Jerusalem governorate, of which (13) facilities were forcibly self-demolished, and (3) excavation and land leveling operations were carried out.
Demolition, forced eviction and land confiscation decisions:
The occupation authorities delivered about 36 demolition notices to a number of commercial establishments and houses, and perhaps the most prominent of these notices was in the Al-Sala’a neighborhood in the town of Jabal Al-Mukabber, as the occupation forces distributed demolition notices to about 20 commercial stores, and on February 16, the occupation authorities hung demolition orders on some doors of the homes of the town’s residents. Al-Issawiya after storming it, announcing a new massacre in the town, as the decisions included ten residential buildings, each building containing from two to ten apartments.
The confiscation of land:
The occupation forces issued a decision regarding the confiscation of an area of (252,395) dunums of the lands of the town of Hizma under the pretext of widening the main road between the towns of Hizma and Jaba, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, so that the lands threatened with confiscation under that pretext would become more than (500 dunums) owned by the citizens of the town of Hizma. Part of it is located within the borders of the so-called "Occupation Municipality", and the other part is within the borders of the "Civil Administration".
Violations against prisoners:
The occupation authorities imposed financial fines in addition to seizing the private property of “243” Palestinian prisoners, including about “168” prisoners from occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of “receiving money from the Palestinian Authority.”
Violations against Jerusalem institutions:
As part of the restrictions on schools in the city of Jerusalem, the occupation forces fired gas bombs at students at Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, in occupied Jerusalem. On February 15, the occupation forces assaulted a student and forced him to take off his clothes despite the cold weather at the Shuafat racist camp checkpoint, then beat him and arrested him. When his sister tried to document the moment of his arrest, a female soldier attacked her. The occupation forces also impeded students' access to their schools by imposing restrictions on the Shuafat refugee camp checkpoint in Jerusalem more than once during the month.
As for assaulting journalists, on February 8, the occupation forces arrested Palestine TV journalist "Ahmed Hababa" while he was passing through a checkpoint near the town of Beit Iksa, northwest of occupied Jerusalem.
The occupation forces also assaulted a number of journalists and prevented them from covering the events in the town of Jabal Al-Mukaber, and Al-Jazeera photographer Wael Al-Salaymeh was wounded with rubber bullets.
As part of the attack on the medical personnel, the occupation forces stormed a medical center in the Ras Khamis neighborhood, northeast of occupied Jerusalem.
Attacks on Christian monuments:
The settlers continued their violations and incitement against the Christian monuments in the occupied city of Jerusalem. On February 2, (3 settlers) stormed the “Christ Imprisonment” Church in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, opposite the Omariya School, and broke and destroyed some of its contents and tried to set it on fire with the aim of burning it, and they confronted them The guard in the place informed the occupation police to deal with them.
Settlement projects:
The occupation authorities seek to impose a new reality on the occupied city of Jerusalem through the implementation of dangerous settlement projects. In February, the occupation authorities continued to work on 2 new settlement projects, in addition to starting the implementation of a project to establish a new base in the Wadi al-Rababa neighborhood, within what is known as the suspended air bridge project. It will allow an increase in the number of settlers storming the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The new projects:
- A plan to establish a settlement neighborhood on the lands of Jerusalem International Airport, near Qalandia camp, north of occupied Jerusalem.
Where the settlement neighborhood is to be built on an area of 1,243 dunums, which was controlled by the occupation authorities and the so-called “Israel Land Fund.”
The plan will include 9,000 settlement housing units, most of which will be allocated to religious settlers, and will include about 350,000 square meters of trade, work and tourism areas.
- The occupation authorities announced a new settlement plan on the lands of occupied Jerusalem, through which it seeks to continue changing the features of the Holy City and erasing its Arab-Palestinian history. Estimated at 1.2 million square meters.