The decision by US President Trump to relocate the US Embassy to Jerusalem has had its impact on the way Palestinians in the Holy City are treated, prompting the Israeli authorities to take additional arbitrary measures against Palestinians of Jerusalem.
A clear escalation can be seen in the violations committed against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including arbitrary detention and arrest. During these arrests, Palestinians are beaten, fined, subjected to lengthy interrogation, home raids and searches. Following their release, Palestinians are not allowed to express their national identity.
In addition to these measures, the Israeli authorities continue to demolish Palestinian homes, in a relentless, systematic policy, under the pretext of lacking a license, while hardly approving any requests submitted for building permits. They also criminalize Jerusalemites speaking against this policy.
A new policy has also emerged recently; the arbitrary and random expulsion and banning of Jerusalemites from Al-Aqsa Mosque, as part of what Palestinians call the blacklist. This list includes Palestinians of all ages, including minors (under the age of 18). It also includes Arabs of Israeli nationality. Banning Palestinians is mostly indefinite, and those speaking against it are incriminated.
The Israeli authorities continue to abashedly remove Palestinians from Al-Aqsa Mosque on a daily basis, even though there is no legal basis for this practice, especially that it also constitutes a blatant violation of the right to movement and freedom of worship.
In this report, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documents cases of expulsion arrest and detention of Palestinians (including women and minors) from Al-Aqsa Mosque in August 2018, the abuse of the law by the Israeli authorities, and criminalizing persons based on suspicion of committing illegal acts or without even doing so.
The report examines the degrading and cruel treatment by the said authorities during arrest, including by beating and inhumane interrogations. During and after arrests of Palestinians, the Israeli authorities order searches of their homes without a judicial warrant and impose large fines.
This report also seeks to demonstrate the continued and escalating threat against Palestinians in Jerusalem, to put these Israeli violations in a legal context, and to urge the international community, particularly the United Nations, to pressure the Israeli authorities to respect the law and abide by the Geneva Conventions, to respect the status of Jerusalem, and to end its violations against the Palestinians, especially at Al-Aqsa Mosque.