Israel escalates attacks on Jerusalem in May

Israeli attacks on Palestinian citizens and properties in occupied Jerusalem increased sharply in May, a local research and study centre has reported. Wadi Al-Hilwa Information Centre (WAIC) said that the Israeli occupation authorities detained 150 Palestinians, including three women, from Jerusalem during the month. Twenty of the detainees were children aged 15 to 18; another 20 were aged 7 to 15.

The WAIC report said that a group of the children were detained during pre-dawn raids on their homes; some were kidnapped from a peaceful march in the city; and some were arrested while they were at school. “Most of the prisoners arrested on the streets were kidnapped by undercover officers,” the report alleged.

WAIC pointed out that Israel’s own laws, as well as international laws, do not allow children to be detained without their parents being present. “The Palestinian children,” claims the WAIC report, “were handcuffed, leg-chained, frightened and beaten during the detention process.”

Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque also increased in May with settlers entering the mosque courtyard through Al-Asbat and King Faisal Gates for the first time. Two Israeli soldiers, it is reported, entered the Dome of the Rock Mosque.

House demolitions increased during the past month, with 10 houses being destroyed by the Israelis, making at least 80 Palestinians homeless, most of them children. In addition a number of demolition orders were issued by the Israeli-led municipality, including one at the Rasul-Amoud Mosque.

Meanwhile, attacks by illegal Jewish settlers against Palestinian targets saw one man stabbed six times and a young child wounded in the head. In another incident, an elderly man, Talal Abu-Sara, and his three sons were beaten severely by undercover officers. So-called settlers’ “Price tag” attacks led to the tyres of 20 Palestinian-owned vehicles being slashed and anti-Arab graffiti daubed in several neighbourhoods. A church was damaged in the Old City and two shops were “confiscated” by a group claiming that they have been owned by Jews since before 1948.