Category: Video

Muslim worshippers continue to be blocked from Al Aqsa Mosque

12 January 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | East Jerusalem

Video showing the attack by the IOF on worshippers at Wadi Al Joz. Credit: ISM

 

The arbitrary restrictions on Palestinian Muslims accessing the holy site in Jerusalem for prayers have now been in place for over four months. These restrictions continue to be imposed by means of an excessive and intimidatory presence of Israeli Occupation Forces around the access points to the Old City where the Al Aqsa Mosque is, especially around the time of Friday prayers.

Worshippers have responded steadfastly to the occupation forces’ denial of their rights by praying in the streets close to the Old City and Al Aqsa, in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Wadi Al Joz. The occupation forces appear to view this as a threat of the highest order, one which cannot be tolerated, and respond with extreme brutality.

A couple dozen men are standing in a street, facing the camera, each with a prayer rug laid out on the pavement in front of them.
Worshippers praying in the Street in Wadi Al Joz.

At today’s (12th January) Friday prayers, twenty five worshippers laid down makeshift prayer mats on a side road in Wadi Al Joz, in a very calm, dignified and non-threatening manner. However, within two minutes, IOF soldiers could be seen running down the road towards them brandishing weaponry, from the direction of the Old City. Volleys of tear gas were launched towards the worshippers forcing them to abandon their prayers and run further into the residential area, pursued by their attackers and a skunk truck, a weapon used for its nauseating bad smell.

A large military black truck is spraying large amounts of a white substance in a street. On the truck's side is written 'police' in English and Hebrew.
“Skunk truck” in action at Wadi Al Joz. Credit: ISM

The IOF prevented ISM volunteers and most of the Israeli activists, as well as the media, from following and documenting what happened. But ISM understands that in their pursuit of the worshippers – a phrase that in itself shows the absurdity of the occupation forces’ behaviour –, IOF soldiers fired excessive amounts of teargas including inside residents’ homes before withdrawing from the neighbourhood.

In the forefront, three people, one visibly filming, are standing in the street. In front of them, a line of six IOF soldiers are standing on the road. Cars are parked in the background.
IOF blocking access to the mosque to media and activists.

IOF brutality in the service of enforcing a collective punishment on the Palestinian Muslim community in East Jerusalem will not deter the Al Aqsa faithful. For four months they have endured this, and every Friday they have continued to resist.

Settler Mob Ambushes Armenian Quarter

30 December 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Jerusalem

They came covered in black and wearing ski masks. On December 28, thirty extremists, armed with clubs and tear gas, invaded the Armenian Quarter’s ‘Cow’s Garden’ (Goveroun Bardez) in the Old City of Jerusalem and attacked members of the Armenian community. The coordinated ambush, caught on film, left several seriously injured, including seminary students, as well as two Armenian youth abducted by occupation forces. The vigilantes vandalized the grounds as part of the assault. Several of the injured were transported to a hospital for medical treatment.  

The Armenian community of the Old City is resisting a controversial land grab coordinated by investors with ominous links to extremist settler factions. 

The pressure campaign by extremist settlers utilizes violent tactics mirroring settler attacks on Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But Armenians have also learned from their Palestinian counterparts the importance of steadfastness and unity. Every settler attack thus far has been repelled by the close-knit Armenian community.

Armenians celebrate Christmas later than Christians in the West, and have begun installing a cross and a manger in the rubble (photo credit: ISM)

Unprecedented Coordinated IOF Attacks in West Bank

28 December 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank

Early this morning, between 1:00 am and 6:00 am, Israeli Occupation Forces invaded several cities across the West Bank. Seven of the eleven Palestinian governorates in the West Bank were invaded in a coordinated attack, the largest since October 7. Clashes were documented in Jenin, Hebron, Qalqilya, and Ramallah, with reports of invasions in Tulkarem, Nablus, and Jericho. Invasion forces stormed the cities, targeting money transfer stations, stating that funds were being funneled from these major cities to Hamas. Many eyewitness reports observed soldiers breaking open safes and, according to The New Arab, stealing at least $2.8 million from these targeted locations after classifying them as having involvement with “terrorism”. 

IOF Soldiers in Ramallah steal millions (source: FajerTV)
IOF in Qadura Refugee Camp

On the ground ISM members in Ramallah report dozens of army tanks storming and patrolling the streets before direct clashes with Palestinian youth resistance in Al Manara square and in the Qadura refugee camp. Youth were preparing to resist by smashing large rocks to break them up while tanks loaded steel bullets into their assault rifles (steel bullets, as opposed to copper, are intended to be able to penetrate helmets, concrete, and other industrial materials). 

Israeli military shell casings vs Palestinian defense weapon

Palestinians fiercely resisted the military invasion for hours, throwing rocks, metal pieces and molotov cocktails at the indestructible tanks. Invasion forces responded with live fire, rubber tipped steel bullets, tear gas, sound grenades, and other explosive devices. This bombardment withstood for several hours, mostly concentrated between 2 and 5 am, resulting in one IOF soldier shot, 14 Palestinians injured, at least 4 of which were with live ammunition, and one Palestinian, named Hazim Al-Qatawi (23), shot and killed.

 

 

Along with bodily harm, this extension of the ongoing occupation has resulted in storefront destruction, shattered car windows, and the street littered with remnants of destruction.

Community cleans up after shop destroyed near Al Manara square
Cab in Al Manara

 

A Song from Gaza: Alone (لوحدك)

Alone/ لوحدك is a poem by Egyptian poet Ehab Lotayef performed by Haidar Eid on the music by Reziq JuJu.
Haidar Eid is a professor at al-Quds University in Gaza City now trying to stay alive in the midst of the genocidal attack by apartheid Israel on Gaza.
Haidar wants to express the feelings of the people in Gaza, that the world has left them alone.
Lyrics:
لوحدك
Alone (On your own)
لو الدنيا ضاقت وجار الزمان
ومات الضيا واستبد الظلام
When your world collapses, when times are most difficult
When light suffocates, when darkness reins
(x2)
وهانوا الكرام وسادوا اللئام
وتهنا ما بين الحلال والحرام
When the righteous are oppressed, when the wicked rule
when the world can’t distinguish right from wrong
وحده صوتك ينور ليالي الأسية
بكلمة جريئة تناجي النهار
Only your voice will illuminate these harsh nights
with a brave word, that summons daylight
(x2)
لو ناسك خنوعة وصاحبك جبان
يحب المراوغة، يخاف م الكلام
When your people submit. When your friend is a coward
afraid to rise up, afraid to speak
(x2)
في وسط المظالم وتحت الحصار
يا واقف لوحدك مفيش لك خيار
In the midst of injustices and under siege
You, who stands alone, have no recourse
غير صوتك: تنور ليالي الأسية
بكلمة جريئة تناجي النهار
But your voice: illuminate the harshest of nights
with a courageous word, usher daylight
(x2)

 

 

Al Aqsa and How To Help Oppressors

Muslims were prevented from entering Al Aqsa for Friday prayers on November, 17 2023. According to Palestinians in the Old City of Jerusalem, this is the sixth week in a row that the majority of people coming to pray have been denied entry.

Israeli border police denied many worshippers entry into Al Aqsa Mosque and pushed them at multiple gates and checkpoints in the Old City.

Israeli Border Police repeatedly told worshippers that they could not enter the Al Aqsa Mosque and to go back to their houses. One elderly man said, “Even we elders cannot enter?” And a woman asked, “Not even a woman can enter?” The Israeli Border Police repeatedly said, “Go. Go. Everybody go.” The Border Police supervisor reiterated to his subordinates, “Everybody coming, just tell them to go.”

A Palestinian just denied entry explains the situation, “We try. We do the best to enter. We are not allowed because we are Arab, but we will do our best.”

Worshippers began to do their jum’ah (communal Friday prayers that are considered a religious obligation in Islam) as close to the Muslim Holy Site as they could get, but Israeli police attacked them there too as they kneeled in prayer.  

The loudspeaker from inside the Mosque can be heard reciting a Hadith, a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, familiar to many Palestinians experiencing oppression. According to tradition, Muhammad stated, “Help your brother whether he is an oppressor or an oppressed.” A man responded, “I will help him if he is oppressed but if he is an oppressor, how shall I help him?” The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing, for that is how to help him.”

Al Aqsa Mosque is at the heart of the current escalation, termed a war by Israelis and genocide and ethnic cleansing, a continuation of the Nakba begun in 1948 by Palestinians. Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza have regularly been denied entry into Al Aqsa, but now Israeli border police are denying more and more worshippers entry, even those with the “right” documents. 

Israeli Border Police deny access to Al Aqsa Mosque

Israeli border police pushed worshippers attempting to enter Al Aqsa. Somebody cried out חילול השiם (chillul hashem) to those barring entrance to the Muslim Holy Site. Chillul hashem is Hebrew for desecrating the Name of God. In Judaism, Jews are supposed to be representatives of God and God’s moral code, so when a Jewish person acts in a shameful, oppressive manner, they have represented God poorly, thus desecrating God’s name. The concept of chillul hashem is prevalent in the Torah and Tanakh and is often referenced by Jewish people as a reason to uphold the highest moral standard.

Settlers regularly invade Al Aqsa flanked by heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has led settler incursions into the Al Aqsa complex on multiple occasions. 

In 1994 a settler from the Kach terrorist group opened fire on worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Kahlil (Hebron) killing 29 people and injuring about 150. Afterwards, the mosque was divided in half, with half staying open to Palestinian worshippers and the other half turned into a synagogue, closed to Palestinians. 

Violent extremist Israeli settlers have made no secret of their plans to destroy Al Aqsa Mosque and the Haram-e-Sharif on which it rests, and replace it with a third Jewish Temple.

There has been a decentralized leaderless movement to defend Al Aqsa through sit-ins at the historic Mosque. But many of these Mosque protectors have been blacklisted and are now barred from entry.

As of this date, November 20th, 2023, the Israeli military has bombed at least 59 Mosques and 3 churches in Gaza and a Mosque in the West Bank since October 7th. 

Attacks on places of worship is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention, and is classified as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.