Jerusalem in 2020: 7 killed, and 1,979 homes destroyed — Judaization pace accelerates

Europeans for al-Quds prepared a comprehensive report under the title “Jerusalem in 2020” documents an escalation in the Israeli occupation attacks in Jerusalem.

The report monitored the severe consequences of the settlement and Judaization, as during 2020, the Israeli forces killed 7 Palestinians, including a child and a person with disabilities in the occupied Jerusalem, as part of its continuation in violation of the right to life.

The killing operations were dominated by the use of excessive force, especially at the Israeli outposts and checkpoints under the constant pretext of suspecting the intention of these people to carry out operations against Israeli forces or settlers, although in all cases it is possible to control the victims without killing them, and in most of these events, it was proved that the Israeli novel is incorrect.

86 injuries, including women, children, and minors were recorded. All of them were hit by direct Israeli bombs or bullets, in addition to dozens of suffocation cases due to tear gas fired by the occupation forces.

During 2020, 543 shootings and points of confrontation with the Israeli forces in Jerusalem were documented, including 144 in the Issawiya, 189 in separate neighborhoods, including the yards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates, 36 in Shuafat refugee camps, 32 in Silwan, 29 in Al-Eizariya, 26 in Qalandia refugee camp, and 23 in Anata town.

Torture, beating, and abuse are among the common types of violations committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian Jerusalemites, as 76 cases have been monitored , including young men and children, who were subjected to torture and beatings, which violate the rules of the international law that prohibit torture.

More than 1445 incursions and raids carried out by the Israeli occupation forces on Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were documented, including 1979 arrests, among them 472 children and 100 women and girls. Some of them were repeatedly arrested, as in the case of the Palestinian activist and teacher, Hanadi Halawani, whose suffering varied between storming the house, arrest, summoning, and deportation from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

And at the level of demolition policies of Palestinian homes and properties, the occupation forces destroyed 148 homes, causing the displacement of 450 people in the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The demolitions are often carried out under the pretext of lack of a permit, despite the fact that the Israeli authorities almost completely prevent the granting of permissions and impose heavy fines on the buildings before they are demolished.

The data collected by the report indicate that during 2020 the Israeli occupation forces forced 81 citizens to self-demolish their homes, which led to the displacement of approximately 95 families and more than 350 individuals, including dozens of minors.

Moreover, the occupation forces also seized 8 residential buildings in the occupied East Jerusalem for the benefit of settlement associations, while they notified of seizing 13 other buildings.

Besides, 46 commercial establishments, consisting of shops or barracks were demolished in the occupied Jerusalem.

It was confirmed that Al-Aqsa Mosque remained in the circle of targeting and Judaization, as the year 2020 witnessed a number of Israeli attacks aimed at changing its current situation.

According to the report, the occupation authorities, during 2020, issued 375 deportation decisions, including 315 from Al-Aqsa Mosque, 15 from Jerusalem, 33 from the Old City, 4 from the West Bank, and 8 travel bans. Among the deportees were 15 minors and 66 women.

No less than 79 attacks carried out by settlers were monitored, which included attacks on citizens and their property and writing racist slogans.

The chief of Europeans for al-Quds foundation, Mohammed Hannoun, said, the Jerusalem report in 2000 came as a comprehensive document that shows the most prominent results patterns of the Israeli violations of the Palestinian’s human rights situation, based on a field review and follow-up of daily documentation of violations, as well as a number of specialized human rights publications with legal analysis based on the rules of the international law.

Hannoun pointed out that the report concluded that Israel is working through several methods to impose the de-facto policy to consecrate the Jewish presence and character and to abolish and reduce the Palestinian and Arab Islamic presence in Jerusalem.

The position of the former US President Donald Trump and the normalization agreements between the occupation and the four Arab countries, which are the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, in the second half of 2020, constituted an additional impetus for the occupation to proceed with its settlement and Judaization projects.

The Israeli occupation authorities do not hide their policy of ending the existence and functioning of official Palestinian institutions, restricting the work of official Palestinian figures in the occupied Jerusalem, and preventing any manifestations of Palestinian sovereignty, even at a minimum, in order to devote the occupation’s pursuit of imposing its sovereignty over the city.

These practices come within the framework of Israel’s ceaseless attempts to change the condition of the occupied city and its Arab identity by imposing facts on reality.

The report warned of the Israeli plans to demolish more homes and residential neighborhoods in Jerusalem in favor of implementing settlement projects and changing the demographic character in the city, as well as the Israeli plans seeking to impose a temporal and spatial division on Al-Aqsa Mosque and change current status for the worse. These matters warn of new waves of conflict and violence.

It called for an end to the policy of racial discrimination between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the investigation, prosecution, and trial and intervention procedures to stop the policy of forced deportation and the violation of freedoms and the right to worship.

The Israeli occupation forces are, systematically, practicing violations of the economic and social rights of Palestinians in Jerusalem. They deal with Jerusalemites as residents and not as citizens and landowners, thus they are subjected to discrimination and racism.

The report concluded that there are dangerous indications of Israeli trends and policies in 2021, represented by attempts to stop the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock, in parallel with an escalating talk about settler extremists’ plans to demolish the Golden Dome, as well as efforts to devote the temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews.

The United Nations and the entire international community should assume their responsibilities in stopping Israel’s violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and towards the city of Jerusalem and the Palestinians.