The occupation besieges 150,000 Palestinians north of Jerusalem, while 1,000 settlers storm Al-Aqsa

For the third day, the Israeli occupation forces besieged 150,000 Palestinians in the Shuafat camp and the town of Anata, north of occupied Jerusalem, where occupation soldiers spread extensively, and launched massive raids and arrest campaigns, while cutting off the neighborhoods of Jerusalem and restricting the movement of Palestinians there to secure the settlers’ incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City.

The occupation forces have closed the Shuafat refugee camp and the town of Anata since last Saturday evening, and carried out their incursions with the support of helicopters, abused Palestinians and prevented them from entering or leaving, including the sick and injured, in addition to preventing the entry of foodstuffs and medicine and restricting the arrival of Palestinian Red Crescent crews, as well as closing schools, and preventing students from heading to these schools.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the silence of the international community on the crimes of the occupation is eroding what remains of the credibility of the United Nations, pointing out that failure to hold the occupation accountable and refraining from implementing the legitimacy decisions threatens to turn the organization into an ineffective global forum.

The ministry stressed that the settlers’ daily incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City in occupied Jerusalem, and what the Christian and Islamic holy sites are exposed to are an integral part of the open occupation war on Jerusalem, its identity and its historical civilized reality, and the Palestinian presence in it to impose a new Judaizing reality that serves the colonial plans of the occupation.

Adviser to the Palestinian Presidency’s Office for Jerusalem Affairs, Ahmed Al-Ruwaidi, considered that the aggressive practices of the occupation in Anata and Shuafat camp amount to war crimes, calling for urgent international intervention to lift the siege and provide protection for the Palestinians.

Human rights researcher Moataz al-Ajlouni from Shuafat camp spoke about the suffering of the Palestinians, saying: Hundreds of occupation forces are besieging the camp and the town of Anata, and preventing the entry of medicine and food, in conjunction with continuous incursions into homes, sabotaging their contents and assaulting their residents, which led to dozens of injuries and arrests, pointing out that neither humans nor stones are exempt from the repressive practices of the occupation, which are a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.

For his part, Ahmed Masalha from Shuafat camp explained that the situation is getting worse due to the escalation of the attacks of the occupation forces, which today forced a number of families to leave their homes, and gathered them in the open in preparation for the demolition of these homes.

The situation of the Palestinians in Shuafat and Anata is not much different from that in the rest of the occupied Jerusalem neighborhoods, where the occupation forces intensified their checkpoints at the entrances to the city, in the town of Silwan, the Old City, and Wadi al-Joz “Valley of Nuts” neighborhood in its north-east, and in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians to provide protection for hundreds of settlers on their way to storm Al-Aqsa .

The Palestinian Minister of Awqaf Hatem Al-Bakri explained that more than a thousand settlers stormed Al-Aqsa today, in addition to hundreds during the past days, with the protection of the occupation forces, which attacked those Palestinians stationed in Al-Aqsa or working there, and arrested a number of them in a blatant attack on the sanctities and freedom of worship, noting that the occupation has turned Jerusalem, and the roads leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque, into military barracks in order to prevent the Palestinian access to the holy sites.

Al-Bakri pointed out that these incursions are part of the occupation’s plans to judaize Al-Aqsa and change the legal and historical situation in it, as part of its ongoing operations to judaize Jerusalem, stressing that despite the occupation’s arbitrary and aggressive measures, the Palestinians continue to defend their land and sanctities and will fail the Israeli judaization plans.

In turn, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, stated that the occupation’s attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa, are an insult to the sanctity of places of worship, stressing that Jerusalem will remain Arab and the eternal capital of Palestine, despite the occupation’s attempts to obliterate its landmarks, falsify its history and undermine its identity.

Archbishop Hanna said: In the name of the Christian churches in Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land, we condemn the ongoing crime of the Israeli occupation in Al-Aqsa. The attack on Al-Aqsa is an attack on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, pointing out that being satisfied with statements of condemnation and expressions of concern are not sufficient to stop the crimes of the occupation and its attacks, while the international community should assume its responsibilities and intervene urgently to stop Israeli occupation crimes.

NR