21-year-old Alaa Nasser Ahmed Zaghal was shot dead by a bullet to the head. As Israeli soldiers tried to flush out a different person taking cover inside a house, they also shot others in the area – including journalists. More than 165 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year: 51 in the Gaza Strip and at least 110 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 18 Israelis have also died.
Mousa Haron Abu Mehamid, from Bethlehem, was arrested for being in East Jerusalem without a permit. Since 1967, 231 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons, including dozens who have died due to medical negligence.
Israel’s narrative of a quiet, gentle incident in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem hides the alarming truth of destruction and dispossession of a Palestinian family.
Israeli soldiers’ and settlers’ efforts to torment Palestinians continue unabated in the new year: attacks, home demolitions, land expropriation, abductions, invasions, and more impede daily life in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Israeli police repeatedly spray skunk water in Palestinian East Jerusalem, making life unbearable for Palestinian business owners and dangerous for all residents.
NY Times report: A little-noticed police action in Jerusalem last month was one of several incidents that led to the current crisis in which Israel is using violence against Palestinians in Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank.
The Israeli occupation is a constant, chilling presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and among Palestinians living in Israel: children and adults are routinely abducted, Israeli housing is built on Palestinian land while Palestinian homes are demolished – just a few examples from one “average” day.
Israeli soldiers have killed 1, injured over 95, abducted at least 30 in ongoing invasions since Thursday in East Jerusalem; also imposed sanctions and collective punishment measures against the residents; invaded & ransacked dozens of homes, hospitals and clinics, assaulting physicians, nurses, patients… Part of Israel’s effort to displace Palestinians to create a new “National Garden” in the area…
A hospital anniversary celebration attended by “dozens of people,” sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, in occupied East Jerusalem was intolerable for Israel. The reason: it would include “Palestinian sovereign symbols such as: playing the Palestinian national anthem, political speeches on behalf of the PA and participation of Palestinian officials.”
The shut-down was ordered because an Israeli law forbids the PA “to hold an assembly or activity within the State of Israel.”
The world (except for Israel) considers East Jerusalem to be occupied, and its annexation to be illegal. That is, East Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Recently released Israeli documents show that Israel secretly funded an insurance company for settlers, in addition to planning for 20,000 new units in Ma’ale Adumim worth 3 billion shekels (over $800 million), an East Jerusalem settlement built on confiscated Palestinian land.
In addition, settlement activity in Hebron continues, and Israel is trying to have international human rights observers removed.
Other troubling new governmental actions and policies have also been adopted.