The Public Relations and Media Unit in the Jerusalem Governorate issued its report for the month of May 2024, on the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Jerusalem Governorate, in which it summarized the overall violations observed in the neighborhoods and towns of the governorate.

Martyrs and the file of bodies detained by the occupation:

During the month of May 2024, two martyrs died in the Jerusalem Governorate, one of them a child and the other from outside the governorate. At dawn on May 16, the child Nour Nizar Shihabi (17 years old) from the Al-Sawana neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem died after the occupation forces shot him in the Bab Al-Sahira area in occupied Jerusalem. The occupation authorities detained the body of the child martyr.

On May 19, Rami Taqatqa (44 years old), from the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, was arrested for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack at the Container Checkpoint near occupied Jerusalem.

File of bodies being held:

On May 16, the occupation detained the body of the child martyr, Nour Shihabi (17 years old). With the occupation’s detention of the body of the child martyr, Shihabi, the number of bodies of Jerusalemite martyrs held by the occupation authorities in the occupation’s refrigerators and number cemeteries until the end of May 2024 rose to 41 Jerusalemite martyrs.

Targeting national figures:

Under the far-right government led by flocks of colonialists, the occupation authorities continue their attempts to impose sovereignty over Jerusalem and its sanctities with the aim of imposing a new reality, and continue their racist policy against the national symbols of Jerusalem, led by the Governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, upon whom the occupation has imposed an open house arrest order in his home since August 4, 2022, without specifying a time period for the decision. On May 20, the occupation intelligence summoned Governor Ghaith for interrogation in what is known as Rooms 4 in the Al-Maskobiyya Center in occupied Jerusalem. The occupation handed Ghaith a decision intending to renew the order to deport him from the West Bank for the sixth year in a row. On May 30, the occupation handed Ghaith a decision to renew his deportation from the West Bank for a new period of 4 months, until next September 16.

 During May, the occupation court renewed the administrative detention of the former Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Engineer Khaled Abu Arafa, for two months.

The occupation authorities released former Jerusalemite MP Ahmed Attoun after administrative detention for a year, noting that the occupation had been deporting Attoun from Jerusalem to Bethlehem for 13 years.

The occupation forces attacked participants in the commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the passing of the Emir of Jerusalem, Faisal Al-Husseini, by beating and pushing them, which led to the injury of the director of the Prisoner Club, Nasser Qaws, and Ishaq Al-Qawasmi, an employee of Orient House.

Settlers attacks:

The attacks of Jewish colonialists and extremists on Palestinians in general and on the people of Jerusalem Governorate in particular are increasing, in light of the occupation police’s failure to arrest the aggressors among them. Indeed, the fascist occupation government deliberately provides a cover for their criminal racist practices, as evidenced by illegal manipulation and deception to provide a safety net that protects these aggressors, as they are The powerful tool of the extremist occupation policy to implement and achieve their goals.

During May 2024, the Jerusalem Governorate monitored about (19) attacks by colonists, including (assault) physical harm.

 

Injuries:

 During May 2024, the Jerusalem Governorate monitored injuries resulting from the occupation’s use of excessive force against Jerusalemites. (13) injuries were monitored as a result of live and rubber-coated metal bullets and severe beatings, in addition to cases of gas suffocation.

 

Crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque:

In a clear and clear violation of the sanctity of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the settlers’ raids will continue during May of the year 2024, as 4,277 colonists and 6,179 stormed the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under the name of “tourism” during the fait accompli imposed by the occupation, called the morning and evening periods, with strict protection from the occupation forces.

Violations against Christians in Jerusalem:

 The occupation forces tightened their measures and installed iron barriers with the aim of restricting Christians who celebrate the “sad” Good Friday.

The occupation forces deployed their checkpoints in the roads and gates of the Old City in occupied Jerusalem to restrict Christian residents on the occasion of the celebration of “Holy Saturday” according to the Eastern calendar. The occupation forces also obstructed the arrival of Christian Jerusalemites to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, restricted their celebration of Holy Saturday, and attacked Christian residents in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem. The occupation forces arrested the Greek consul’s guard from inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem.

The occupation authorities restricted the arrival of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank to participate in Holy Saturday celebrations in Jerusalem. They set up barriers and iron barricades and ed the number of participants inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. They also assaulted the participants and arrested a number of them in a barbaric manner.

Arrests:

During May 2024, (69) arrest cases were monitored in all areas of the Jerusalem Governorate, including (15) children and (3) women.

 

Decisions of the occupation courts:

 The occupation courts impose unfair decisions on detainees, ranging from issuing actual prison sentences to imposing house arrest, in addition to deportation decisions and heavy financial fines. Among them are those against whom the occupation court issued travel bans, in addition to extending the detention of a large number of detainees for long months and perhaps years without delay. Bring clear charges against them.

Actual prison sentences:

The report monitored the racist occupation courts issuing (46) actual prison sentences against Jerusalemite prisoners, including (26) administrative detention sentences, “that is, without clearly specifying their charges.”

One of the highest sentences issued by the occupation authorities during May was the sentence issued against the young Jerusalemite Thaer Bakirat from the town of Sur Baher in occupied Jerusalem, as the occupation issued an effective prison sentence against him for a period of four and a half years, after a year of being in house detention.

Home detention decisions:

The Jerusalem Governorate monitored (3) house arrest decisions issued by the occupation authorities during May 2024, against the boys: Yamen Tayeh, Adam Zaytoun, and Mahdi Khaddour, for a period ranging from two to five days.

Deportation decisions:

The occupation authorities issued 6 deportation decisions, 2 of which were deportation from Al-Aqsa Mosque during May 2024.

Travel ban:

During the month of May 2024, the occupation courts issued a travel ban against the liberated Jerusalemite prisoner, Yaqoub Abu Assab, as the occupation prevented Abu Assab from traveling outside the country for the sixth year in a row.

Demolition and bulldozing operations:

During May 2024, (30) demolition and bulldozing operations were monitored, including: (9 forced self-demolition operations) and (20 demolition operations carried out by occupation mechanisms), in addition to a bulldozing operation.

 

 

Demolition, forced eviction, and land confiscation decisions:

Demolition decisions

The occupation authorities handed over a number of demolition orders during the month of May, in various areas of the Jerusalem Governorate, where the occupation forces stopped construction in one of the modern buildings in the town of Kafr Aqab and confiscated a cement pump. The occupation forces also notified the demolition of dozens of shops along the road linking the Jaba and Qalandia military checkpoints, north of occupied Jerusalem, and a bridge linking the towns of Jaba and Al-Ram.

The occupation municipality crews handed a number of residents in the town of Al-Issawiya in occupied Jerusalem demolition orders after storming the town and taking pictures of homes in the town. The Salama Sawahra family in the town of Jabal Mukaber also began unloading the contents of their residential building, to implement the decision to demolish it in the coming days. It is noteworthy that the building consists of 3 floors and 6 residential apartments, and 50 people live in it, who will become homeless.

Forced displacement

During May, the Shehadeh family in the town of Silwan in occupied Jerusalem submitted a petition to the so-called occupation High Court of Justice, to annul an Israeli judge’s decision to evict them from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, without waiting for the opinion of the judicial advisor, and without allowing the family’s lawyer to pursue this procedure.

The evacuation of the Shehadeh family will be a prelude to the evacuation of 87 other families in Batn al-Hawa, where the Ateret Cohanim settlement association, in cooperation with the occupation municipality, handed them notices in 2015 to vacate their homes for the benefit of the colonists.

The Occupation Supreme Court issued a decision canceling the eviction orders against the “Hamad, Al-Dajani and Al-Dahoudi” families from the units of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem.

Violations against Jerusalem institutions and landmarks

 In continuous attempts to undermine the efforts of Jerusalemites inside the occupied capital, the occupation continues the policy of closing the institutions operating there and suppressing activities that prove the presence and steadfastness of Jerusalemites in the occupied city.

The most prominent of these attacks during May 2024 are:

Attacks against journalists and media institutions, incitement against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), attacks on activists, attacks on school students, and obliteration of city landmarks.

Settlement projects:

In its relentless and insanely accelerating pursuit to impose a new reality on the occupied city of Jerusalem and Judaize it through the implementation of dangerous settlement projects, during May the occupation authorities approved a new settlement project in addition to starting work on two previously approved projects, and also opened a project on which work has been completed.