Jerusalem24 – Mohammad Hamayel – In the middle of the night, a knock is heard at the front door of the home in Jerusalem’s Old City. The family opens to find the Israeli police. They take a family member away. After a few days, they release him or her, the sentence “expulsion ” from the old city for a number of days.
This is not a new policy being implemented by Israel. During the month of May, Guevara alBudeiri, a Palestian journalist working with alJazeera, was expelled from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood for two weeks. Saleh alNatsheh, a Palestinian from Jerusalem was recently released under the condition of being expelled from the Damascus Gate and that he pays a fine of 5000 Nis (around 1,525 USD). During the first half of 2020, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored about 236 expulsion decisions, including 206 from Al-Aqsa Mosque, 24 from Old Jerusalem, and 6 from Jerusalem.
Jihad Qaws, was expelled from Jerusalem’s Old City for two weeks. Qaws who In a conversation with Jerusalem24, he tells us of his experience. He said, “I was taken to the interrogation center in the Qashleh, where I was interrogated regarding clashes and stories related to the alAqsa Mosque.” Qaws is from the Sa’diyeh neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem, and was arrested from his home. “I denied the charges pressed against me as I was prohibited from the alAqsa Mosque to begin with,” he told Jerusalem24. Regardless, he was still expelled from the Old City.
According to Qaws, “Their justification is always the same, every Jewish holiday they arrest a large number of youth and press the same charges against them.” The charges pressed are often plans to protest and create clashes in the Old City, Jerusalem and the alAqsa Mosque. Qaws adds that “It is a difficult feeling when you are prohibited from entering where you live, especially since there is nowhere for you to go.” Explaining the difficulties, “they prohibit you from your family, your children, your friends and your life.”
Your life is flipped upside down.
When asked on why he thinks the Israeli authorities do this, Qaws stated that this is a policy. “they want to empty Jerusalem, the Old City and the alAqsa Mosque of Palestinian youth. the goal they are aiming for is to terrorize the youth and prevent them from doing anything.”
