The coalition of civil institutions to defend the rights of
Jerusalemites said that the Israeli authorities occupying Jerusalem
continue to commit grave breaches to the International Law.
The violations include those of human rights, international law, international humanitarian law, United Nations conventions, and the International Declaration of Human Rights. The coalition issued a monthly report in cooperation with the Jerusalem Center for Democracy and Human Rights.
Israeli forces continued the policy of land confiscation, building and expanding settlements, Wall construction, and confiscating 1,328 Dunams of Anata Village in East Jerusalem.
The Wall is nearly complete in surrounding Jerusalem, cutting off residents from their city, schools, and medical facilities. Students cannot reach schools, nor can teachers.
The report also pointed out that farmers from Beit Jala and Bethlehem can no longer reach Jerusalem to market their olives and other agricultural products in Jerusalem, with passage through settler Road 60 now entirely forbidden for such purposes.
Freedom of worship is under duress, as it has been, with access to Al Aqsa Mosque nearly impossible for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, contradicting the International Declaration of Human Rights, Article 53 of the Geneva Convention Protocol I from 1977 which prohibits hostile acts against places of worship.
It is also considered a war crime under Article 8, Paragraph B of the Statute of the International Criminal Court passed in 1998 to intentionally direct attacks against buildings dedicated to religion. Everyday Israeli forces surround Al Aqsa Mosque and prevent most Palestinians from entering for worship, particularly on Fridays.
Home demolitions continued in Anata and Beit Hanina. Since 1967 Israeli forces have been demolishing Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in contravention to Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. And one day during the report period Israeli forces arrested 10 Palestinians, and on another 10, including four children.
Jerusalem is one of the most glaring examples of the slow, yet steady, process of ethnic cleansing, according to the coalition report which relies heavily on international law.
