JERUSALEM, Monday, January 3, 2022 (WAFA) – Israel today
ordered a stop on the construction of a mosque in the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Issawiya, according to WAFA
correspondent.
She said that heavily-armed Israeli police barged their way
into the neighborhood, which lies on the eastern slopes of Jerusalem, and
posted an order to halt the construction of al-Taqwa
Mosque.
For the residents of Issawiyeh, a
Palestinian village of some 20,000, Israeli police vehicles have become an
everyday reality on the neighborhood streets, while police drones fly above – surveilling each move of the neighborhood’s residents.
Nestled in the hills of East Jerusalem, the
village is plagued by poor infrastructure, residents are constantly harassed by
the Israeli police and anyone, including children, run the risk of arbitrary
arrest.
Hostile armed police searchlights pierce
residents’ homes as Israeli officers conduct raids in the dead of night,
breaking into homes and arresting residents.
While Israeli authorities claim police raids
into the neighborhood are intended to maintain “law and order”, residents and
human rights groups vigorously reiterate that the raids themselves seem
intended to provoke confrontations and have created an atmosphere of terror,
with parents afraid to let their children play outside.
Rights groups have long pointed out that
Israel’s discriminatory policies in East Jerusalem – which include routine home
demolitions, discriminatory allocation of building permits, and the forceful
expulsions of Palestinians from their homes for the benefit of Israeli colonial
settlements – are aimed at driving out Palestinians from the city.
With over 70 percent of Palestinian families in
occupied East Jerusalem living below the poverty line, if life becomes too
expensive, they have little choice but to move to congested Jerusalem
neighborhoods on the other side of Israel’s separation wall or into the West
Bank.
After Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinians
were not given Israeli citizenship, but were instead issued permanent residency
permits, which can be revoked by Israel for a variety of reasons, including
insufficient loyalty to the State of Israel.
K.F.
