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Occupied Jerusalem- At dawn on Wednesday, the Israeli occupation carried out a search campaign of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem It targeted prisoners and freed prisoners, during which they raided 18 homes of prisoners and former prisoners.
According to a statement by the occupation police, about 100 of its secret personnel, Border Guard soldiers, members of the Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet), and representatives of the Ministry of the Army raided these homes and seized 214 thousand shekels (about 52 thousand dollars), in addition to smaller amounts of the US dollar and the Jordanian dinar. They also seized Gold jewelry and confiscated 13 vehicles worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.
In addition, money was confiscated from the bank accounts of these people, and the occupation police confirmed that more money and property will be confiscated from these prisoners.
This campaign comes as part of daily raids and inspections since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7, and is a continuation of a campaign that began last February after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced the decision to impose financial sanctions on 87 Jerusalemite prisoners and their families under the pretext of “receiving allowances.” From the Palestinian Authority.
Prisoners and freed prisoners receive monthly salaries from the National Authority in Ramallah to support their families and children, and Israel considers this a reward for a “terrorist act,” as it puts it.
#video
Storming the prisoner’s house #Al-Maqdisi Editor Anas Abu Mayaleh and his search… destroying, breaking, vandalizing the contents, tearing up the Qur’an, and confiscating a sum of money. pic.twitter.com/W4zC3kd2gz— Silwanic (@Silwanic1) November 1, 2023
An iron hand
Regarding the policy of sabotage and intimidation during the recent raid on the homes of Jerusalemites, the Jerusalemite writer and political analyst Rasem Obaidat spoke to Al Jazeera Net about the reasons, backgrounds, and goals, saying, “The unprecedented targeting of Jerusalemites and their property came shortly after the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle.”
Obaidat added that the occupation’s intervention was not limited to raids, arrests, and searches, but rather went beyond targeting the homes of activists and freed prisoners in the Old City by storming them and taking their measurements in preparation for demolishing them or imposing fines on their owners.
Days after the start of the war, campaigns to arrest Jerusalemites focused on their expression of their opinions on social platforms, and today the campaign enters another phase by targeting prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, until the number of those arrested since October 7 reached 350 Jerusalemites, male and female, according to the same analyst.
Regarding the goal of the iron fist policy currently being followed in Jerusalem, the Al-Maqdisi writer stressed that it wants to deliver a message to every Palestinian living in the Holy City that any movement or solidarity with Gaza will result in imprisonment or expulsion from Jerusalem.
Obaidat added, “The escalation of this attack comes out of fear that the situation will explode more widely in the city, and the opening of a new front in addition to the open and burning fronts.”
Press coverage: The occupation forces Jerusalemites Hamza and Daoud Fouad Bakirat to demolish their homes in the town of Sur Baher, southeast of Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/W7US3mZsaP
– Quds News Network (@qudsn) October 28, 2023
Heating more
In turn, the director of the Jerusalem Center for Future Studies, Ahmed Rafiq Awad, said that what Israel is doing in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem is enough to transform this front from hot to hotter, because it anticipated matters and initiated an unprecedented campaign of arrests, random killings and raids, and launched settlers into the streets to harass the Palestinians, intimidate them, and prevent them from Moving, it closed roads and prevented prayers at Al-Aqsa.
In Jerusalem, Awad believes that the occupation’s intention to confiscate the funds of prisoners and freed prisoners, and to impose restrictions on them, comes because it “deals with the city on the basis that it is under its sovereignty, and therefore the penalties are severe in order to achieve control and subjugation and prevent the formation of movements of a national and patriotic nature, because it believes that repression It brings security, safety and stability.”
Regarding whether the iron fist in Jerusalem will actually achieve security and stability, Awad answered that the problem of any occupier – not just Israel – is his belief that he can with his force snatch up national and religious hopes and dreams, but in reality he fails to resist the ideas.
The same spokesman added that if the occupation kills the resistor, it will not be able to kill the idea of resistance, and popular demands do not end with the killing of a leader or movement, but rather the Palestinian people will always demand their rights, and this is what we have seen since 1948 of Israel’s inability to overcome the Palestinians, their resistance and their demands, even though it recorded successes here. And there.
Thus, the occupation police documented the raid by Al-Yammar forces into the homes of more than 25 freed Jerusalemite male and female prisoners at dawn today, confiscating their money, vehicles, and women’s gold jewelry, and fining them large sums.#Jerusalem_The_Compass pic.twitter.com/JdlK0h46fQ
– Jerusalem Compass (@alqudsalbawsala) November 1, 2023
Collective punishment
According to Obaidat, the occupation’s raids fall under the umbrella of collective punishment of Jerusalemites, because they are not limited to arresting the wanted person, but go beyond that to destroying furniture and contents of the house and even breaking the walls.
According to testimonies received by Al Jazeera Net, the occupation’s measures terrorize residents who are safe in their homes, spread a state of fear and panic, and are added to a series of other collective punishments recorded since the start of the war on Gaza, the most prominent of which are: restricting the movement of Jerusalemites, paralyzing the economy and commercial activity in Jerusalem markets, and preventing Jerusalemites from reaching… The Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the escalation in the pace of demolishing homes with bulldozers, or forcing their owners to demolish them with their own hands.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention strictly prohibits the imposition of collective punishment and intimidation measures against protected persons and their property for “a crime not personally committed.”
Last February, a campaign against bank accounts and confiscation of funds targeted 160 Jerusalemites, including 24 prisoners behind bars, 55 released prisoners, and 81 family members of the prisoners.
Last June, the raid campaign targeted 16 homes, from which gold jewelry and sums of money were confiscated, and today it resurfaces again to include other prisoners and liberated prisoners and their families in light of the state of war in which Jerusalem and its residents are witnessing exceptional measures that they say they have not experienced since the occupation of the east of the Holy City in 1967. .
