Israeli Palestine May 12th, 2021

I. What is happening in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah?

Israel ordered six Palestinian families to leave their homes in Sheikh Jarrah on May 2 to make way for Jewish settlers.

Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists demonstrate against Israeli occupation and settlement activity in the Palestinian territories [File: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

By Linah Alsaafin 1 May 2021

Dozens of Palestinians are facing imminent dispossession from their homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in what they say is a move to force them out and replace it entirely with a Jewish settlement.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled at least six families must vacate their homes in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday, despite living there for generations.

II. Palestinians vow to save Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood

Palestinians continue solidarity protests against forced displacement of families from the occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian amid ongoing confrontations as Palestinian families face eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

5 May 2021

Israeli forces raided the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem for the second night on Tuesday, spraying skunk water, a chemically enhanced type of sewage water, and physically assaulting residents and solidarity protesters.

Several Palestinians were arrested, including Tala Obeid, Omar al-Khatib and Mahmoud Nabil al-Kurd, whose families face displacement from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem. Al-Kurd along with another Palestinian was released on Wednesday morning, but the detention of al-Khatib, a local activist, has been extended.

Palestinians have been protesting against the forced displacement of people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood following an Israeli court order. The Israeli district court in East Jerusalem approved a decision to vacate six Palestinian families from their homes in May in favour of Israeli settlers. The same court ruled that another seven families in Sheikh Jarrah are to leave their homes by August 1.

III. Hundreds hurt as Palestinians protest evictions in Jerusalem

Tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers earlier packed the mosque on the final Friday of Ramadan and many stayed to protest.

Israeli police detain a demonstrator in East Jerusalem on Friday during protests over Israel’s threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood [Mahmoud Illean/AP]

7 May 2021 Updated: 8 May 2021 12:32 PM (GMT)

Israel braced for more protests on Saturday after violence at East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound wounded more than 200 people as the international community called for calm after days of escalating tensions.

Israeli police fired rubber-coated metal bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinians at Al-Aqsa as anger grows over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.

IV. About 90 Palestinians injured in Israeli crackdown: Live

The latest violence comes on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr, a day after Israeli police stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and injured 205 Palestinians.

Palestinians run from stun grenades fired by Israeli police officers during protests at Damascus Gate [Oded Balilty/AP Photo]

8 May 2021

Dozens of Palestinians have been injured in Israeli police crackdown on protesters outside the Old City of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr.

At least 90 people were injured on Saturday, the Palestine Red Crescent said, a day after Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa and injured more than 200 Palestinians. Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.

News|Al-Aqsa Mosque

News|Occupied East Jerusalem

V. World reacts as Jerusalem tensions escalate

More than 200 wounded in Al-Aqsa amid growing anger over Israeli plans to evict Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah.

Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian during confrontations [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

8 May 2021

More than 200 Palestinians were wounded outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as Israeli police fired rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas and stun grenades towards rock-hurling protesters.

Tens of thousands of worshippers had earlier packed Islam’s third-holiest site on the final Friday of Ramadan and many stayed on to protest against Israeli plans to evict Palestinian families from their homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

VI. About 90 Palestinians injured in Israeli crackdown: Live

The latest violence comes on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr, a day after Israeli police stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and injured 205 Palestinians.

Palestinians run from stun grenades fired by Israeli police officers during protests at Damascus Gate [Oded Balilty/AP Photo]

8 May 2021

Dozens of Palestinians have been injured in Israeli police crackdown on protesters outside the Old City of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr.

At least 90 people were injured on Saturday, the Palestine Red Crescent said, a day after Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa and injured more than 200 Palestinians. Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.

News|Occupied East Jerusalem

VII. Netanyahu: Israel ‘rejects’ pressure not to build in Jerusalem

Israeli PM defiant as global outcry grows over attempts to forcibly expel Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel, is among territories that Palestinians seek for a future state [File: Amit Shabi/AFP]

9 May 2021

Israel “firmly rejects” pressure not to build in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said following days of unrest and growing international condemnation of planned forced expulsions of Palestinians from homes in the city claimed by illegal Jewish settlers.

Netanyahu’s comments came on Sunday as Israel’s justice ministry said it was delaying a key Monday hearing on the case of Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

VIII. Arab League condemns Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Head of regional body accuses Israel of stoking tensions and provoking violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the attacks in Gaza were a ‘miserable show of force at the expense of children’s blood’ [File: Ramzi Boudina/Reuters]

11 May 2021

The head of the Arab League has condemned deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip as “indiscriminate and irresponsible” and said Israel had provoked an earlier increase in violence by its actions in Jerusalem.

The violence began after Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday for a third consecutive day, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian worshippers inside Islam’s third holiest site in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.

IX. Rockets fired towards Tel Aviv after Gaza tower block destroyed

Hamas says it launched 130 rockets towards Israel after a residential tower in Gaza collapsed after an Israeli air raid.

Smoke billows from an Israeli air strike on the Hanadi tower in Gaza City [Mohammed Abed/AFP]

11 May 2021

Hamas has said it fired more than 100 rockets at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv after an Israeli air strike destroyed a tower block in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The 13-storey residential tower in Gaza City collapsed after Israeli air strikes targeted the building on Tuesday. There were no reports of casualties among the residents, who reportedly vacated the Hanadi tower before it was hit.

X. Rising attacks in religiously ‘mixed’ Israel towns amid Gaza push

Israeli media outlets report right-wing Israelis beat a Palestinian man in Bat Yam amid spiralling violence.

An Israeli firefighter stands near a burning Israeli police car during confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Lod [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

12 May 2021

Violent confrontations between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish Israelis have resumed in several cities inside Israel as the Israeli military continued air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip and Hamas fired rockets into Israel for a third day on Wednesday.

The crisis, which started with Israeli efforts to displace Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem, has sparked intra-communal tensions within Israel, with some Palestinian citizens staging protests in recent days.

XI. Israel must be taught a ‘lesson’, Erdogan tells Putin

UN Security Council must rapidly intervene to protect Palestinians, Turkish president tells Russian counterpart.