President Mahmoud Abbas today discussed with Jordan’s King Abdullah II the simmering tensions in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
They discussed in a phone call the latest developments on the Palestinian arena, with particular focus on the Israeli police and settler attacks against Palestinian worshippers and restrictions on the latter’s access to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in addition to the forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
They agreed to continue their coordination and action at all forums in order to halt the Israeli occupation authorities’ attacks against Jerusalem, its holy sites and Palestinian residents.
Palestinians in Jerusalem held protests in the recent days in solidarity with 40 Palestinians, including 10 children, who face the imminent risk of being kicked out from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to replace them with entirely Jewish settlers.
Palestinians are expected to proceed with their protests throughout the week and into the next as they attempt to save their neighborhood.
The Israeli Supreme Court, which could be liable for war crimes its policies supporting the dispossession and forcible transfer of Palestinians, a war crime under international law, postponed a ruling on the case to next Monday, which happens to also be Israel’s Jerusalem Day, celebrating the occupation of East Jerusalem following the 1967 war.
Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, Israeli colonial settler organisations have claimed ownership of the land in Sheikh Jarrah and have filed multiple lawsuits to evict Palestinians from the neighbourhood since 1972.
Tensions have escalated in Jerusalem since the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, with night-time clashes between police and worshippers in the East Jerusalem following the police decision to ban people from sitting on the stairs outside Bab al-Amoud, also known as Damascus Gate, under the guise of implementing the coronavirus restrictions, and its decision to disconnect the power supply to the call to prayer at the mosque compound.
For many Palestinians in Jerusalem and across the occupied Palestinian territory, Ramadan is directly connected to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is considered the third holiest site in Islam.
Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA