Occupation excavates near al-Aqsa Complex

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 / Saudi Gazette – Israeli authorities on Monday began excavation near Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex and canceled a visit by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which was supposed to inspect preservation work in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, the head of Islamic Waqf department in occupied Jerusalem, said that the Israeli authorities began the excavations in the Al-Buraq Plaza (the Western Wall Plaza) and in area of the Umayyad palaces adjacent to the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Read more

Occupation cancels UNESCO mission to Jerusalem

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 / Middle East Monitor – Israeli authorities announced on Monday that they had cancelled the UNESCO mission due to visit the old city of Jerusalem because the Palestinian Authority had failed to keep the mission away from politics, media sources reported.

Israeli radio, broadcasting in Hebrew, reported from sources in the Israeli foreign ministry that the decision was taken after the Palestinian side retracted previous pledges that the issue was not to be politicised. Read more

Occupation Forces arrest 5 during clashes in East Jerusalem

Saturday, 18 May 2013 / Ma’an News Agency – Israeli forces arrested five people in East Jerusalem on Saturday as clashes broke out during a march near the old city, witnesses said.

Dozens of people took part in a demonstration near Damascus gate to protest Israeli violations at al-Aqsa mosque, locals told Ma’an. Israeli forces moved to suppress the march and fired tear gas canisters, water canons and rubber-coated steel bullets at protestors. Read more

Occupation Forces attack Egyptian Orthodox bishop in Jerusalem

Saturday, 18 May 2013 / Ahram Online – Israeli newspaper Maariv published a video clip on Monday showing an attack by Israeli police on Bishop Anthasius of Ramallah’s Egyptian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem during Easter celebrations last week. Read more

Protesters break through separation wall

Saturday, 18 May 2013 / Ma’an News Agency – Palestinians on Friday tore a hole through part of Israel’s separation wall in the outskirts of East Jerusalem, witnesses and a security official said.

Protesters were marking the Nakba anniversary and upon reaching the wall they ripped a 4-meter hole in it, onlookers said. Read more

A diary of violence: Nakba Day protests in East Jerusalem

Friday, 17 May 2013 / By Sahar Vardi, +972 Magazine – One activist’s diary of the arrests and violence that Israeli police used against Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem on Nakba Day, 2013.

Scene 1:

A few dozen Palestinians march down Bab A-Zahara Street with a police van behind them, they head toward Damascus Gate for the Annual commemoration of the Nakba. Police cavalry pass the marchers, turn around, block the sidewalk on which the protesters are marching and start galloping towards them. Another line of border policeman prevents those who managed to pass from walking toward Damascus Gate, but they’re too late, half the protest is already at Damascus Gate. Read more

Right-wing group takes IOF soldiers on tour of East Jerusalem

Friday, 17 May 2013 / By Amos Harel, Haaretz – Israel Defense Forces cadets in officer training school spent the weekend at a “leadership Sabbath” in East Jerusalem, hosted by the right-wing organization Elad − which works to increase the Jewish presence in the city’s Arab neighborhoods. Read more

Knesset member calls for building of synagogue in al-Aqsa courtyard

Friday, 17 May 2013 / Middle East Monitor – Israeli Knesset member, Mordechai Eugev, has called for a Jewish synagogue to be built in the southern part of the Aqsa Mosque courtyard.

A statement from the Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Islamic Endowments said that Israel’s campaign against Al-Aqsa Mosque has been continuous and provocative. The latest chapter in this saga is the article published by Eugev, in which he called for a synagogue to be built in the courtyard of the Mosque. Read more

Occupation Forces limit non-Muslim visits to Jerusalem mosque

Friday, 17 May 2013 / Agence France Presse – Jerusalem police closed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound to non-Muslim visitors on Thursday, in what they said was an effort to avoid a repetition of recent Palestinian unrest.

The decision followed disturbances on Wednesday in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem where police used stun grenades, water cannons and mounted officers against Palestinians who hurled rocks during protests marking the anniversary of Israel’s foundation in 1948. Read more

Palestinians rally to commemorate the Nakba

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 / Agence France Presse – Protesters clashed Wednesday with Israeli forces in the West Bank as thousands of Palestinians commemorated the Nakba – “catastrophe” – of the Jewish state’s creation in 1948, during which 760,000 Palestinians fled their homes.

Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets at protesters gathered in front of Ofer military prison near Ramallah, wounding 15 of them, Palestinian medical officials said. Read more

UN Expert Warns Against East Jerusalem Settlement Highway

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 / United Press International – An independent U.N. expert Monday urged Israel to stop building a settlement highway that would bisect a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem.

The “Begin Highway” would negatively affect about 9,300 people in the Beit Safafa neighborhood, which has been under Israeli control since 1967, U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Falk said in a statement released by the United Nations in New York. Read more

Occupation hands arbitrary demolition notices to Jerusalem residents

Monday, 13 May 2013 / Middle East Monitor – On Sunday, the Israeli occupation handed over an “administrative destruction notice” to the owner of a six-flat building under construction in the Beit-Haneena neighbourhood in Jerusalem and detained three construction workers from the site.

Staff of the Jerusalem Municipality claimed that the building is being built without a construction permit. Naji Hassouna, the owner of the building, which is still under construction, denied the claim and said that he had obtained permission two years ago. Read more

Calls for action to protect al-Aqsa Mosque

Monday, 13 May 2013 / GMJ – In response to the increasing crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque, including daily incursions by extremist settlers, police attacks against worshippers, and the detainment of Mohammed Ahmad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Arab governments and organizations are calling on the global community to act to protect the Holy City. Read more

Heads of churches denounce Zionist violence against Christians

Sunday, 12 May 2013 / Ma’an News Agency – Patriarchs and heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem on Sunday released a joint statement denouncing attacks by Israeli police officers on worshipers and pilgrims during Holy Saturday at the Church of Holy Sepulcher.

Signatories of the statement highlighted that they saw “awful scenes of the brutal treatment to clerics, average people and pilgrims in Jerusalem during Holy Saturday.” Read More

Arab parliament calls for international protection of occupied East Jerusalem

Sunday, 12 May 2013 / Ammon News – The Arab Parliament on Saturday condemned the escalating Israeli attacks in the occupied Palestinian lands, the latest of which was the storming of Arab East Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound by Jewish settlers and the arrest of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Hussein.

President of the Arab Parliament Ahmad Jarwan also urged the United Nations, the Arab league and the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation to act promptly to stop the ongoing Israeli assaults, the building of settlements and the construction of the West Bank separation wall. Read more