Occupied Jerusalem: ‘There is no Palestinian male that hasn’t been beaten’


Violence by Israeli forces against Palestinian men in Jerusalem has increased after October 7.

Israeli forces raid with blast bomb and rubber bullets after a morning prayer at Masjid al-Aqsa in East Jerusalem on 22 April 2022

Zena Al Tahhan reports in Al Jazeera on 21 February  2024:

Samer and Omar* woke up early on Friday morning, hoping to make it to noon prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Located just 15 minutes away from their homes in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, the two young friends are among the tens of thousands of Palestinians in the city who attend Friday prayers at the mosque – one of the holiest in Islam.

But when the two arrived at Damascus Gate – the main entrance used by Palestinians to the Old City – they were stopped by Israeli forces.  “Where are you from?” the officer asked Samer and Omar, aged 22 and 28 respectively.  “Issawiya,” they replied.

“Go back to Issawiya and pray there,” the officer told them – a response that multiple Palestinian men said they received as they tried to enter that Friday. While Israeli forces had imposed a strict closure on the Old City since October 7, they have loosened the restrictions slightly the past two Fridays, allowing more people to enter.

The two men, feeling antagonised, turned away and went to grab something to drink from a kiosk opposite the Israeli forces checkpoint. Shortly after, the Israeli officers approached them and told them to leave the area – the most central area for Palestinians in the city – without offering any explanation.

“They started pushing us and then beat my friend with the baton,” Samer told Al Jazeera after the incident. “We tried to say ‘don’t touch us.’”
Omar cursed at the officers, before the latter chased the two men for a distance of about 500 meters (1,640 feet) and beat them with batons.

As the officers ran after the two men, Al Jazeera’s reporter – who was present at the scene – heard one of the Israeli officers say, “Break their legs so that they don’t come back.”

Omar, the 28-year-old, suffered heavier blows than his friend. A strip of the skin on his leg looked as though it had been burned; he was in pain and was not able to walk.   “They don’t want us here. They want us out of this country, and to forget about the homeland,” said Samer, still frazzled by the beating.  “To be a male in Jerusalem – it’s not a life,” he said. “Just simply existing as a Palestinian male in Jerusalem – that bothers them.”

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