ISRAELI police yesterday morning and since Tuesday night restricted entry of Muslim worshippers into Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, a site Muslims seek to hold all day and night prayer vigils during the holy fast month of Ramadan, in order to secure entry of Jewish fanatics into the Muslim holy compound.
Local sources said the police checked the ID cards of people trying to hold the dawn prayers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and turned back young ones at its gates.
At the same time, the police forcefully removed all worshippers from the Mosque following the late-night prayers and prevented worshippers from keeping an all-night vigil.
Meanwhile, dozens of Jewish fanatics on Tuesday stormed the holy compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque walking around its yards and some holding religious rituals in violation of the decades-old agreement that specifically bans non-Muslims from performing any kind of religious ritual inside the walled, holy compound that includes Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock along with several other prayer buildings.
Muslim officials expressed concern that Israeli settlers intend to bring in animals to sacrifice inside the compound today as an offering with the start of the Jewish Passover holiday, a step they warned could spark serious trouble.
Israeli forces have shot and injured a young Palestinian man over an alleged stabbing attack against the regime’s forces, amid heightened tensions in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories on Tuesday.
Israeli media claimed that the unidentified Palestinian stabbed two soldiers near the Tzrifin military base in central occupied territories.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said that the two injured were in serious and good condition respectively and were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Both of the injured individuals are in their 20s.
The Israeli police said the suspected attacker was arrested and taken for questioning.
Meanwhile, the Hamas resistance movement welcomed the operation and tied it to expected attempts by Zionist extremists to sacrifice an animal at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem (al-Quds) ahead of the upcoming Passover holiday.
Hamas said: ‘We welcome the stabbing attack which is the first response to the war that Israel is waging in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the intention to make a sacrifice. What is to come will be even worse.’
Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.
Most of the raids have focused on Nablus and Jenin, where Israeli forces have been trying to stifle a growing Palestinian resistance against occupation.
Last Saturday night, Israeli forces fatally shot a young Palestinian man, identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Ra’ed Baradiyah as he purportedly hit three soldiers south of Bethlehem in a ramming attack.
The Israeli military claimed that the driver accelerated toward the soldiers and hit them near the West Bank village of Beit Ummar.
Meanwhile, The Israeli government’s decision to establish the so-called National Guard under the leadership of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir further entrenches Israel’s practice of maintaining two separate law enforcement systems based on national affiliation, according to Adalah – The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
Adalah said: ‘One system is administered by the police and is responsible for enforcing the law for the general populace in accordance with general law enforcement regulations.
‘The other system is designated exclusively for Palestinian citizens of Israel and comprises armed civilian militias with law enforcement authority that operate under the Minister of National Security’s direction.
‘Creating these two separate tracks based on religion, particularly with respect to law enforcement powers, is absolutely prohibited and violates the principle of equality before the law.’
On 3rd April, the Minister of Heritage, Amichai Eliyahu, from the Jewish Power party, explicitly said that the ‘National Guard’ is intended exclusively for Palestinians. He noted that it is meant for ‘citizens of the country who identify with the enemy’, such as Operation Guardian of the Walls, nationalistic protectionism, nationalist agricultural crime, theft of weapons and combat equipment, sexual harassment and rape of a nationalist (motive).’
The establishment of the National Guard aims to institutionalise the cooperation between armed Jewish-Israeli civilians and the police following the May 2021 Uprising. During May 2021, organised groups of Israeli armed civilians, which then-Public Security Minister Ohana called a ‘force multiplier for the authorities’, attacked Palestinian citizens of Israel and their property in ‘mixed cities’, ostensibly with police collusion and protection. Israeli authorities afforded immunity to Jewish-Israeli civilians for these attacks, including and most egregiously in the case of the murder of Mussa Hassouna in Lydda.
On 2 April 2023, the Israeli government advanced a decision to further the establishment of the ‘National Guard of Israel’ under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Security, headed by the minister, and leader of the ‘Jewish Power’ party Itamar Ben-Gvir.
According to a previous decision and the proposed decision submitted by Ben Gvir on 29 March 2023, the National Guard will be composed of Israel’s Border Police, army reservists, and civilian volunteers who will be subordinate to the Ministry of National Security.
The decision mandates that the Minister of National Security establish a committee, headed by the Director-General of the Ministry, to discuss matters including the guard’s subordination, responsibilities, relations with the Israeli army, and other relevant issues.
The National Guard will be under the full responsibility of the Ministry of National Security and will serve ‘as a skilled and trained force to deal with various emergency scenarios, national crime, and the fight against terror, as well as to strengthen sovereignty in areas where required, within the framework of the tasks currently held by the Israeli police in these areas.’
Before the decision was approved, Adalah sent a letter to the Government’s Legal Advisor, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of National Security, requesting that they not approve the decision and refrain from establishing this ‘National Guard’.
The decision was made in accordance with the coalition agreements between the Jewish Power Party and the Likud Party, published in December 2022. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett previously announced the Guard’s establishment in May 2022.
Elsewhere, The Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday detained at least 16 Palestinians in raids at their homes in the occupied territories.
The forces detained eight people during a raid of Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem during which three other people were injured, one of them critically.
Soldiers also detained one person during a raid in the town of Kufr Nimeh, near Ramallah, during which three others were injured by Israeli army gunfire.
Two others were detained in nearby Beit Liqya village after raiding their family homes.
Also near Ramallah, soldiers detained a Birzeit University student at a checkpoint north of the city after holding him for several hours.
In Nablus in the north of the West Bank, soldiers detained one person at his family home.
Another was detained in the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank.
Two youths were also detained at their family homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
- The estimated number of children (under 18 years) is expected to be 2.39 million in Palestine by mid-2023; 1.22 million males and 1.17 million females.
Statistics released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) show that children in Palestine represent about 44 per cent of the total population (41 per cent in the West Bank, and 47 per cent in the Gaza Strip) on the occasion of Palestinian Child Day, which was yesterday.
There is a decline in the percentage of early marriage (under the age of 18) for both sexes, where it reached about 12 per cent of the total number of registered marriages among females in 2021 (6 per cent in the West Bank and 19 per cent in Gaza Strip) compared with 24 per cent in 2010. Whereas, the percentage of early marriage among males under the age of 18 years reached 0.4 per cent of the total number of registered marriages in 2021 compared to 2 per cent in 2010.
The PCBS said Israeli violations against Palestinian children continued with 150 children detained in Israeli prisons and 56 children killed in 2022.
The number of students for the scholastic year 2022/2023 in Palestine reached about 1.388 million students, out of which 1.116 million were students in the pre school age (51 per cent males and 49 per cent females), and 272,000 students in the secondary stage (45 per cent males and 55 per cent females).
Data showed that the percentage of employed children (paid or unpaid) reached about 3 per cent of the total number of children (10-17 years) in 2022: 5 per cent in the West Bank and 1 per cent in Gaza Strip (6 per cent male children and 0.3 per cent female children).
Moreover, the percentage of children enrolled in schools and engaged in the labour market reached 1 per cent (2 per cent in the West Bank and 0.4 per cent in Gaza Strip). As for gender distribution, the percentage was 2 per cent among male children and 0.2 per cent among female children in 2022.
At the same time, 53 per cent of children aged (10-17 years) working in Palestine are wage employees, and the percentage of those working as unpaid family members reached 37 per cent.
About nine out of every 10 children (89 per cent) in the age group (10-17 years) use the internet, 94 per cent in the West Bank and 82 per cent in Gaza Strip. This percentage was equal for both male and female children, reaching about 89 per cent in 2022.
About four out of every 10 children (39 per cent) in the age group (10-17 years) own a mobile phone, 54 per cent in the West Bank and 19 per cent in Gaza Strip. At the gender level, the ratio was 44 per cent for males compared to 34 per cent for females in 2022.
About 10 per cent of children (12-17 years) in Palestine were exposed to a form of electronic violence through social media (11 per cent in the West Bank, and 9 per cent in Gaza Strip) in 2019.
About 3 per cent of children (12-17 years) were exposed to violence through communications (i.e. threats, extortion/blackmailing, or harassment of various persons or parties through calls or messages) in Palestine (3 per cent in the West Bank, 2 per cent in Gaza Strip) during 2019.
