During the month of October 2021, settlers carried out violent attacks against a number of Palestinian young men, children and families, (15) attacks on young men were recorded by stabbing, attempting to suffocate, run over, severe beating and spraying pepper gas. The attacks took place while young men crossed from West Jerusalem areas or at their workplaces or inside the light rail, in addition to the settlers’ attacks on Palestinians at the Yusufiya cemetery.

 

Regarding injuries resulting from the use of excessive force by the occupation forces against Jerusalemites, about (94) injuries were recorded, including live and rubber-coated metal bullets and severe beatings, this happend in confrontations most of them were concentrated in Damascus gate area, Beit Duqqu town, Shuafat, al-Azariya, Biddu, Silwan, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the Yusufiya Cemetery. As a result, a number of injuries were taken to hospitals for treatment. The occupation forces also severely beated Palestinian Jerusalemites during clashes that erupted for several days in the vicinity of Damascus gate after settlers provoked the  Palestinian youths by raising the Israeli flags, and by occupation forces preventing the young men from sitting in the area.

 

Regarding violations on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, 2,941 settlers stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in clear and explicit violation of its sanctity . On the sixth of October the occupation court ruled that the silent prayer for the Jews is permissible and not violating the Islamic mosque.

 

Regarding the daily campaign of arrests launched by the occupation forces, 179 Jerusalemites were arrested, including about 30 women and children. The occupation courts issued (16) actual prison sentences against Palestinian prisoners, including (4) administrative detention sentences. Among the violations, the occupation authorities issued (18) house arrest decisions against Jerusalemites, ranging from 5 to 10 days.

 

The occupation authorities also issued (31) decisions of deportation, among them: (4) decisions from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, (9) decisions from Bab Al-Amoud area, and (9) decisions from the Yusufiya cemetery, another decision against the head of the Islamic Authority and the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ikrima Sabri to be deported for one week from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

 

In the file of demolishing homes of Jerusalemites, the occupation municipality forced Jerusalemites to forcibly demolish (8) houses, and its mechanisms carried out (34) other demolitions, bringing the outcome of the demolitions during October 2021 to (44) operations. The occupation bulldozers also carried out excavation and bulldozing works in the lands of the Yusufiya cemetery and poured concrete on the floor to turn it into a biblical garden and prevented burial in it.

 

Regarding the demolition notices, the occupation authorities handed over (18) Jerusalemite families demolition notices to their homes, including a demolition notice of (11) Jerusalemite families in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan town south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a notice to the Nassar family from Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in Silwan giving them until the end of this year for demolishing Their homes which accommodate 70 people, the majority of whom are children, claiming that they intend to establish a school on the area on which the houses were built. In addition to the demolition notices of homes for Jerusalemite families in the town of Jabal Mukaber,  Beit Surik, and the Abu al-Nawwar Bedouin community east of Jerusalem.

 

The occupation authorities continued to suppress Palestinian institutions and their activities in Jerusalem , also preventing the holding of (5) events and activities that were scheduled to be held to revive the Holy City, including: canceling the “Football League for Sports Teams” and preventing the holding of a party for school students children and families” in “Beit Abuna Ibraham Monastery" in Jerusalem, in addition banning on holding the "Birth of the Prophet's celebration, which has been held by the employees Staff Club for more than a quarter of a century.

 

In the context of completing its colonizing projects, the occupation began building a huge synagogue called "The Jewel of Israel", about 200 meters from Al-Aqsa Mosque on its western side.

 

Perhaps the most prominent colonizing and changing the Palestinian character of Jerusalem for this period is the project for dredging of the Yusufiya cemetery, as the occupation court allowed the so-called “Nature and Gardens Authority” to continue and raze the Yusufiyah cemetery close to Al-Aqsa Mosque from the eastern side, to establish a biblical garden, and the occupation court rejected a petition submitted by the Islamic Cemetery Care Committee to stop The leveling of the "Unknown Soldier memorial" area in the cemetery.

 Also, the so-called “Israeli Local Committee” in Jerusalem and the Ministry of Housing of the occupation approved during the month of October the confiscation of lands in the area “Givat Hamatos” settlement, which was built on lands belongs to the town of Beit Safafa east of Jerusalem, for expansion purposes.

 

The occupation also planned to promote the construction of thousands of settlement units in the area known as the (E1) settlement scheme, an area that includes several settlements built on Palestinian neighborhoods, including Al-Eizariya, Abu Dis, Anata, Hizma and others. The occupation also approved the construction of 470 settlement units in the so-called “Psgat Ze’ev” settlement, with the aim of expanding the settlement towards the separation wall that separates it from the village of Hizma.

 

On the sixth of next December, the so-called "local committee" of the occupation will discuss the construction of a huge neighborhood comprising about 10,000 housing units in the Jerusalem airport area.

 

 

 

 

                                                                             Al-Quds Al-Sharif Governorate