Israeli occupation bulldozes al-Yusufiya cemetery in an attempt to Judaize and falsify history

For the eleventh day, the Israeli occupation continues to bulldoze al-Yusufiya cemetery, one of the most important and largest Islamic cemeteries in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, in an attempt to falsify history and obliterate the city’s landmarks and identity.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the occupation’s razing of the cemetery to establish a settlement outpost constitutes a crime against humanity, calling for immediate international action to stop it and hold those responsible to account. It  noted that what al-Yusufiya cemetery is exposed to is evidence of the suffering of the Palestinian people, whom the occupation is trying to uproot even from their graves.

The Palestinian Endowments Ministry warned that the occupation’s aggression on the cemetery is a dangerous escalation and part of its plans to Judaize Jerusalem and remove any landmarks confirming its Arab-Islamic identity, calling on the international community to protect Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement to SANA reporter, the Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Saleh Tawafsha, said that the Judaization of Arab and Islamic cemeteries in Jerusalem has escalated since last year.

A member of the Silwan Lands Defense Committee Fakhri Abu Diab noted that the area of al-Yusufiya cemetery is 14 dunums and enjoys an important strategic location because it is adjacent to the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and because it is the only northeastern entrance to the Old City in Jerusalem. He warned that the occupation’s bulldozing and establishing a settlement outpost mean it controls all the entrances and the roads that lead to Al-Aqsa and tightening its siege on it.

Abu Diab noted that the occupation has been digging and bulldozing the cemetery for several years, and in 2014 it prevented burial in its northern part. In December 2020, it demolished the wall of the Martyrs’ Cemetery, one of the parts of al-Yusufiya cemetery, and bulldozed a number of graves where the Palestinians held a sit-in to prevent bulldozing and protect the graves of their dead. But the occupation authorities took them out by force and closed the cemeteries. It resumed bulldozing the cemetery about 11 days ago, scattering the mortal remains without regard for their sanctity.

Director-General of the Department of Maps and Surveys in the Orient House in occupied Jerusalem, Khalil Al-Tafkaji pointed out that the occupation plans to Judaize Jerusalem in three stages, firstly by its siege  with settlements, secondly by the establishment of outposts in the heart of Palestinian residential neighborhoods, and thirdly by the displacement of  Palestinians and replacing them with settlers. The occupation implements this scheme in the neighborhoods of the Old City, and its targeting of historical cemeteries is only part of its attempts to hide the Arab cultural and historical landmarks of the city of Jerusalem.

Hasan Khater, Director of Al-Quds International Center pointed out that the occupation is trying to empty Jerusalem of the Palestinian presence, as it is not satisfied with demolishing the homes of the Palestinians, seizing their lands and displacing them, but rather persecuting them in their graves. He stressed that the Palestinian people will continue to resist and protect their land, history and civilization until the occupation is defeated.

Inas Abdulkareem