Damascus Gate, occupied East Jerusalem – Samer and Omar* awoke early on Friday morning, hoping to make it to midday prayers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound within the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem.
Situated simply quarter-hour away from their properties within the Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, the 2 younger buddies are among the many tens of 1000’s of Palestinians within the metropolis who attend Friday prayers on the mosque – one of many holiest in Islam.
However when the 2 arrived at Damascus Gate – the principle entrance utilized by Palestinians to the Outdated Metropolis – they have been stopped by Israeli forces.
“The place are you from?” the officer requested Samer and Omar, aged 22 and 28 respectively.
“Issawiya,” they replied.
“Return to Issawiya and pray there,” the officer advised them – a response that a number of Palestinian males mentioned they obtained as they tried to enter that Friday. Whereas Israeli forces had imposed a strict closure on the Outdated Metropolis since October 7, they’ve loosened the restrictions barely the previous two Fridays, permitting extra folks to enter.
The 2 males, feeling antagonised, turned away and went to seize one thing to drink from a kiosk reverse the Israeli forces checkpoint. Shortly after, the Israeli officers approached them and advised them to go away the realm – probably the most central space for Palestinians within the metropolis – with out providing any clarification.
“They began pushing us after which beat my buddy with the baton,” Samer advised Al Jazeera after the incident. “We tried to say ‘don’t contact us.’”
Omar cursed on the officers, earlier than the latter chased the 2 males for a distance of about 500 meters (1,640 ft) and beat them with batons.
Because the officers ran after the 2 males, Al Jazeera’s reporter – who was current on the scene – heard one of many Israeli officers say, “Break their legs in order that they don’t come again.”
Omar, the 28-year-old, suffered heavier blows than his buddy. A strip of the pores and skin on his leg appeared as if it had been burned; he was in ache and was not capable of stroll.
“They don’t need us right here. They need us out of this nation, and to overlook in regards to the homeland,” mentioned Samer, nonetheless frazzled by the beating.
“To be a male in Jerusalem – it’s not a life,” he mentioned. “Simply merely present as a Palestinian male in Jerusalem – that bothers them.”
But, the younger males say they haven’t any possibility however to remain sturdy.
“That is on the finish of the day, a navy occupation. We’ll by no means go away right here, it doesn’t matter what they do,” Samer mentioned, earlier than the 2 jumped on a bus going again house.
‘Beatings, provocative searches, cursing’
Since October 7, life for Palestinians residing underneath the 57-year Israeli navy occupation in Jerusalem has turn out to be way more tough than it already was.
That day, Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing almost 1,200 folks and taking greater than 200 others captive. Israel responded with a brutal navy marketing campaign, first by air after which on the bottom as nicely, killing greater than 29,000 folks — principally girls and youngsters — in Gaza, lower than 80km (48 miles) away from Jerusalem, over the previous 4 months. Hundreds of others are buried underneath the rubble and presumed useless.
Shortly after the Hamas assault, Israeli forces have been deployed within the 1000’s within the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem in addition to the handfuls of neighbourhoods surrounding it. They imposed strict closures and restrictions on motion, along with the additional isolation of Jerusalem by cancelling all navy permits to enter the town for Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution.
Younger Palestinian males have, particularly, borne the brunt of elevated violence and harassment by Israeli troopers in Jerusalem.
Abu Mohammad*, who runs a retailer and lives contained in the Outdated Metropolis, mentioned that after October 7 – particularly in the course of the first few days and weeks – Israeli forces imposed a strict curfew after 5pm.
“Nobody was allowed to face on the street after 5pm, even when we reside within the Outdated Metropolis. If we did, they might assault us with beatings, provocative searches, cursing at us,” the 30-year-old advised Al Jazeera.
Describing the scenario at this time and the way violence by Israeli forces unfolds, Abu Mohammad mentioned, “Anytime a male desires to enter the Outdated Metropolis, they get searched.
“A gaggle of troopers will search this one man. Whereas they’re looking you, they hit you with their elbows, with their knees, to impress you to say one thing.
“In the event you say something, you discover all of them on prime of you, punching you on the pinnacle and throughout your physique. Swiftly, you want a hospital,” defined Abu Mohammad.
He famous that the Israeli officers “don’t differentiate between older and youthful males.”
“I’ve seen them push aged males. They don’t care,” he mentioned. “There isn’t any Palestinian male right here that hasn’t been overwhelmed,” the father-of-three continued.
‘They went loopy after October 7’
Assaults by Israeli forces on Palestinians in Jerusalem haven’t solely focused residents and passersby. They’ve additionally focused journalists attempting to do their jobs.
Mustafa Kharouf, a 36-year-old resident of the town and a photojournalist with the Turkish Anadolu Company, was severely overwhelmed by Israeli paramilitary officers whereas reporting on December 15.
Together with a gaggle of journalists, Kharouf had been stationed within the Palestinian neighbourhood of Wadi Joz, which lies near the Outdated Metropolis. As a result of Israeli ban on Palestinians from getting into the Outdated Metropolis and the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, residents have been gathering to wish on the streets of the Wadi Joz on Fridays in its place. On many Fridays, Israeli forces fired reside ammunition and enormous quantities of tear gasoline at worshippers.
As Kharouf and his colleagues have been leaving after the prayers had ended, they have been stopped by a gaggle of officers who tried to stop them from transferring to a special space close by to proceed reporting.
“We have been standing and speaking to the officer in cost, when one of many troopers attacked me immediately. He began shouting, ‘Get out of right here.’”
“I mentioned, ‘Why are you beating me?’ ‘Settle down,’ ‘What’s flawed with you?’ The troopers on the facet, not understanding what’s going on, noticed him beating me after which determined to affix the assault,” continued Kharouf. “I bought offended and mentioned, ‘We’ll meet on the division of investigations towards police’ – which means that I used to be going to file a criticism towards him.”
“They stored beating me – a lot of the beating was on my head, from the neck up. I mentioned, ‘Disgrace on you’ to the soldier, earlier than he lifted up his weapon at me and loaded the journal.
“I began shouting, ‘If I did one thing flawed, then arrest me! Why are you beating me!’ Then they arrested me. They choked me and pushed me down onto the ground. Once I was on the ground, the identical soldier got here again and began beating me once more. They stored beating me as they put {the handcuffs} on my palms. I couldn’t shield my head any extra,” he recounted.
Kharouf was mendacity on the ground, bleeding closely, together with his palms handcuffed behind his again, with cuts to his head and eyes. In a video capturing the assault, one officer might be seen holding Kharouf down whereas one other dealt one kick after one other to Kharouf’s head.
Shortly after, when he refused medical consideration, the troopers determined to take away {the handcuffs} and let him go. He suffered three stitches on the again of his head and obtained therapy after his launch.
For Kharouf, the violence by Israeli forces towards Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem – significantly the Outdated Metropolis – is bigoted and abusive.
“The sensation of being overwhelmed is one factor, however the feeling of degradation is an entire different [thing],” he mentioned. “This kind of beating shouldn’t be about them wanting to harm you, or about you having achieved something flawed – it’s about them desirous to humiliate you.
“You are feeling incapacitated, weak whereas they’re punching and kicking you. The sensation is indescribable.”
After October 7, he mentioned, Israeli forces “went loopy.”
He has determined towards attempting to enter the Outdated Metropolis or its neighborhood. “I haven’t entered the boundaries of the Outdated Metropolis in a month and a half. If you wish to go to the Outdated Metropolis at this time, you need to put your dignity and shallowness apart.”
*Names of interviewees modified upon their request for concern of retribution.
