Damascus Gate, occupied East Jerusalem – Samer and Omar* wakened early on Friday morning, hoping to make it to midday prayers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound within the Previous Metropolis of Jerusalem.
Positioned simply quarter-hour away from their properties within the Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, the 2 younger associates are among the many tens of hundreds of Palestinians within the metropolis who attend Friday prayers on the mosque – one of many holiest in Islam.
However when the 2 arrived at Damascus Gate – the principle entrance utilized by Palestinians to the Previous Metropolis – they have been stopped by Israeli forces.
“The place are you from?” the officer requested Samer and Omar, aged 22 and 28 respectively.
“Issawiya,” they replied.
“Return to Issawiya and pray there,” the officer informed them – a response that a number of Palestinian males mentioned they obtained as they tried to enter that Friday. Whereas Israeli forces had imposed a strict closure on the Previous Metropolis since October 7, they’ve loosened the restrictions barely the previous two Fridays, permitting extra individuals to enter.
The 2 males, feeling antagonised, turned away and went to seize one thing to drink from a kiosk reverse the Israeli forces checkpoint. Shortly after, the Israeli officers approached them and informed them to depart the realm – probably the most central space for Palestinians within the metropolis – with out providing any clarification.
“They began pushing us after which beat my pal with the baton,” Samer informed Al Jazeera after the incident. “We tried to say ‘don’t contact us.’”
Omar cursed on the officers, earlier than the latter chased the 2 males for a distance of about 500 meters (1,640 ft) and beat them with batons.
Because the officers ran after the 2 males, Al Jazeera’s reporter – who was current on the scene – heard one of many Israeli officers say, “Break their legs in order that they don’t come again.”
Omar, the 28-year-old, suffered heavier blows than his pal. A strip of the pores and skin on his leg appeared as if it had been burned; he was in ache and was not in a position to stroll.
“They don’t need us right here. They need us out of this nation, and to overlook in regards to the homeland,” mentioned Samer, nonetheless frazzled by the beating.
“To be a male in Jerusalem – it’s not a life,” he mentioned. “Simply merely present as a Palestinian male in Jerusalem – that bothers them.”
But, the younger males say they haven’t any choice however to remain robust.
“That is on the finish of the day, a navy occupation. We’ll by no means go away right here, it doesn’t matter what they do,” Samer mentioned, earlier than the 2 jumped on a bus going again dwelling.
‘Beatings, provocative searches, cursing’
Since October 7, life for Palestinians dwelling beneath the 57-year Israeli navy occupation in Jerusalem has turn out to be far more troublesome than it already was.
That day, Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing practically 1,200 individuals and taking greater than 200 others captive. Israel responded with a brutal navy marketing campaign, first by air after which on the bottom as effectively, killing greater than 29,000 individuals — largely ladies and kids — in Gaza, lower than 80km (48 miles) away from Jerusalem, over the previous 4 months. Hundreds of others are buried beneath the rubble and presumed lifeless.
Shortly after the Hamas assault, Israeli forces have been deployed within the hundreds within the Previous Metropolis of Jerusalem in addition to the handfuls of neighbourhoods surrounding it. They imposed strict closures and restrictions on motion, along with the additional isolation of Jerusalem by cancelling all navy permits to enter town for Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution.
Younger Palestinian males have, particularly, borne the brunt of elevated violence and harassment by Israeli troopers in Jerusalem.
Abu Mohammad*, who runs a retailer and lives contained in the Previous Metropolis, mentioned that after October 7 – particularly in the course of the first few days and weeks – Israeli forces imposed a strict curfew after 5pm.
“Nobody was allowed to face on the street after 5pm, even when we reside within the Previous Metropolis. If we did, they might assault us with beatings, provocative searches, cursing at us,” the 30-year-old informed Al Jazeera.
Describing the scenario at present and the way violence by Israeli forces unfolds, Abu Mohammad mentioned, “Anytime a male desires to enter the Previous Metropolis, they get searched.
“A bunch of troopers will search this one man. Whereas they’re looking you, they hit you with their elbows, with their knees, to impress you to say one thing.
“When you say something, you discover all of them on prime of you, punching you on the pinnacle and throughout your physique. Hastily, you want a hospital,” defined Abu Mohammad.
He famous that the Israeli officers “don’t differentiate between older and youthful males.”
“I’ve seen them push aged males. They don’t care,” he mentioned. “There is no such thing as a Palestinian male right here that hasn’t been crushed,” the father-of-three continued.
‘They went loopy after October 7’
Assaults by Israeli forces on Palestinians in Jerusalem haven’t solely focused residents and passersby. They’ve additionally focused journalists making an attempt to do their jobs.
Mustafa Kharouf, a 36-year-old resident of town and a photojournalist with the Turkish Anadolu Company, was severely crushed by Israeli paramilitary officers whereas reporting on December 15.
Together with a gaggle of journalists, Kharouf had been stationed within the Palestinian neighbourhood of Wadi Joz, which lies near the Previous Metropolis. As a result of Israeli ban on Palestinians from getting into the Previous Metropolis and the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, residents have been gathering to hope on the streets of the Wadi Joz on Fridays in its place. On many Fridays, Israeli forces fired reside ammunition and enormous quantities of tear fuel at worshippers.
As Kharouf and his colleagues have been leaving after the prayers had ended, they have been stopped by a gaggle of officers who tried to forestall them from transferring to a unique space close by to proceed reporting.
“We have been standing and speaking to the officer in cost, when one of many troopers attacked me out of the blue. He began shouting, ‘Get out of right here.’”
“I mentioned, ‘Why are you beating me?’ ‘Settle down,’ ‘What’s flawed with you?’ The troopers on the aspect, not figuring out what’s going on, noticed him beating me after which determined to affix the assault,” continued Kharouf. “I received offended and mentioned, ‘We’ll meet on the division of investigations in opposition to police’ – that means that I used to be going to file a criticism in opposition to him.”
“They saved beating me – a lot of the beating was on my head, from the neck up. I mentioned, ‘Disgrace on you’ to the soldier, earlier than he lifted up his weapon at me and loaded the journal.
“I began shouting, ‘If I did one thing flawed, then arrest me! Why are you beating me!’ Then they arrested me. They choked me and pushed me down onto the ground. After I was on the ground, the identical soldier got here again and began beating me once more. They saved beating me as they put {the handcuffs} on my palms. I couldn’t defend my head any extra,” he recounted.
Kharouf was mendacity on the ground, bleeding closely, together with his palms handcuffed behind his again, with cuts to his head and eyes. In a video capturing the assault, one officer will be seen holding Kharouf down whereas one other dealt one kick after one other to Kharouf’s head.
Shortly after, when he refused medical consideration, the troopers determined to take away {the handcuffs} and let him go. He suffered three stitches on the again of his head and obtained remedy after his launch.
For Kharouf, the violence by Israeli forces in opposition to Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem – significantly the Previous Metropolis – is bigoted and abusive.
“The sensation of being crushed is one factor, however the feeling of degradation is a complete different [thing],” he mentioned. “This kind of beating isn’t about them wanting to harm you, or about you having achieved something flawed – it’s about them eager to humiliate you.
“You are feeling incapacitated, weak whereas they’re punching and kicking you. The sensation is indescribable.”
After October 7, he mentioned, Israeli forces “went loopy.”
He has determined in opposition to making an attempt to enter the Previous Metropolis or its neighborhood. “I haven’t entered the boundaries of the Previous Metropolis in a month and a half. If you wish to go to the Previous Metropolis at present, you need to put your dignity and vanity apart.”
*Names of interviewees modified upon their request for concern of retribution.