November 16th 2023
At these times, it is usually the olive oil harvest season in Palestine, which is famous for Palestinians mainly the farmers. It is a season that constitutes an important component of the source of income for most Palestinians, especially in the northern West Bank.

Ahmad Jaradat – alternative Information Center –Palestine

With the beginning of war in Gaza after the seventh of October, the Israeli
occupation authorities took a series of escalations and violations against the
Palestinians in the West Bank, most notably the comprehensive closure and
isolation of cities and villages from each other with hundreds of military
checkpoints, and the closure of roads with cement cubes and rocks. Movement
between these cities and villages was also comprehensively prohibited.
Throughout the days of the war on Gaza and until now, the occupation authorities
have carried out widespread arrest campaigns that have so far included more
than 1,600. Dozens of citizens have been subjected to attacks by soldiers and
armed settlers, especially in the northern West Bank. Attacks that have included
raiding homes, burning crops, and throwing stones at Palestinian cars, as happen
almost daily. In villages in the northern West Bank, such as the town of Huwwara,
where armed settlers are deployed on the main road to the town, they also
destroyed and burned many shops located on the main street.
In Jerusalem, the closure was the most comprehensive, and entry into or exit
from Jerusalem was restricted by closing all crossings and checkpoints that
separate the city from its surroundings in the West Bank, in addition to closing
dozens of roads leading to many of the city’s towns and isolating them, as
happened in the villages of Al-Sala’a, Jabal Al-Mukaber, and the village of Sheikh
Saad Southeast of Jerusalem. Worshipers were also prevented from reaching Al-
Aqsa Mosque to perform prayer rituals. Dozens of worshipers, especially young
men, were beaten and arrested when they arrived at the gates of Al-Aqsa
Mosque.
Palestinian protests and demonstrations against the aggression and war on Gaza
were suppressed. The repression included firing live and rubber bullets and tear
gas bombs. This led to the martyrdom of 12 Palestinians in different areas of the

city. Dozens were injured, many of them seriously. In addition to this, schools and
institutions have been closed since the beginning of the war Gaza Strip on the
seventh of October. Due to the comprehensive closure of the city, the inability of
people to reach the West Bank, and the disruption of commercial traffic, prices
rose very significantly. This closure, which is still ongoing, has led to the inability
of citizens in Jerusalem to communicate with their relatives living in the West
Bank, especially the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem.
In Jerusalem, especially in the Old City, settlers have attacked shop owners and
Palestinian citizens dozens of times, especially young people. All this with the help
of security personnel and police who did not prevent the settlers from carrying
out these attacks. Hundreds of settlers also stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa
Mosque, with the sponsorship and support of the Israeli police. This was
accompanied by attacks and escalation against the Palestinians, especially women
in the mosque, who as a result of these attacks suffered noise and fainted due to
the throwing of tear gas bombs, rubber bullets, and stun grenades.
The raids by the Israeli security forces on Palestinian villages and areas in
Jerusalem are almost nightly, and arrests are made, especially in the villages of Al-
Issawiya, Shuafat Camp, Silwan, and Qalandia. These raids were accompanied by
attacks on homes, destroying their contents, and beating residents, especially
young people. The state of discrimination between Palestinian citizens and
settlers in Jerusalem is clearly evident, as the Palestinians are subjected to
collective punishment and measures over time, including restriction of movement
and raids, while the settlers enjoy freedom of movement and practice their lives
normally. In a conversation with several representatives of civil society
organizations and citizens, they confirmed that a state of anxiety is gripping
citizens regarding the escalation of these grave violations, and that all aspects of
life in the city have been paralyzed and stopped, as many political analysts,
human rights activists, and activists in social and youth coalitions told the media.
Especially since this dangerous escalation is an extension of the violations that
Palestinians have been exposed to in Jerusalem for years and their escalation over
the past two years, including house demolitions, arrests, closures, and the policy
of displacement.



What is clear during these weeks is that Palestinian citizens in Jerusalem are being
targeted systematically and rapidly, and it seems that the occupation authorities
are taking advantage of the media and the world’s preoccupation with what is
happening in Gaza to escalate their violations in Jerusalem in service of their
declared project after the annexation of Jerusalem and the increase in settlement
activity in Jerusalem to create a harsh and difficult reality for the Palestinians due
to their systematic displacement.
​Ahmad Jaradat – AIC-P

Ahmad Jaradat : Alternative Information Center - Palestine
With the beginning of the school year in Palestine four weeks ago, the issue of
education in Jerusalem has returned to the forefront of events. It is the battle of
the Israeli occupation attack on the Palestinian curriculum in Jerusalem. This is a
policy followed by the Israeli occupation authorities through the Jerusalem
Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education to prevent the teaching of the
Palestinian curriculum and replace it with the Israeli curriculum. The Jerusalem
Municipality and the Israeli Education Ministry modified the Palestinian
curriculum, and are trying to impose the modified curriculum on Jerusalem’s 150
schools, some of which are affiliated with the occupation municipality. The Israeli
Ministry of Education, private schools, schools affiliated with the Palestinian
Authority, and schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in refugee camps ( UNARWA) in Jerusalem such as the
Shuafat camp.



Since the first day of the opening of the school year, weeks ago, the Israeli police
have been besieging schools, searching students' school bags, and confiscating
textbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority that include the Palestinian
curriculum. It is a policy that the occupation authorities had begun to implement
in recent years, but this year it took a more harsh and severe form, as the Israeli
police surrounded schools since the morning hours, arresting students, searching
their bags, and confiscating books that include the Palestinian curriculum, which
was rejected by the students, their families, and Jerusalem institutions. As a racist
policy that aims to empty Jerusalem of its Palestinian identity by attacking the
Palestinian curriculum and imposing the Israeli curriculum in line with the
occupation’s decisions to annex Jerusalem and declare it the capital of the State
of Israel. Many students preferred to sit on the roads near their schools and
practice education as a refusal to submit to this policy and as an example of
popular resistance to this racist policy.
More than this, the Israeli Ministry of Education in Jerusalem sent a letter to
Jerusalem schools obligating them to teach the amended Palestinian curriculum,

that is, in practice, teaching the Israeli curriculum. The letter included a decision
on the necessity of adopting the amended curriculum and prohibiting the
teaching of the Palestinian curriculum issued by the Palestinian Authority. The
letter included a warning to withdraw and cancel the license of schools that do
not implement the decisions of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli
Ministry of Education, or that teach the Palestinian curriculum, and that the
municipality will cancel the licenses of these schools and close them. It is
noteworthy that last year, for the same reason, the Jerusalem Municipality and
the Ministry of Education withdrew and canceled the licenses of five private
Palestinian schools. It is worth mentioning that about 70% of Jerusalem schools
are now affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Education and the occupation
municipality and use the Israeli curriculum. The municipality and the ministry are
trying to control all schools by teaching the modified Israeli curriculum. Not only
that, but the Israeli police stop cars carrying textbooks to schools, confiscate
books, and arrest drivers, as happened a few days ago at the entrances to a
number of schools in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians in Jerusalem, through educational institutions, civil institutions,
and national forces, say that this is a dangerous policy practiced by the Israeli
authorities to empty Jerusalem of its identity and by attacking the most important
sector, which is education in Jerusalem. It is a policy that is consistent with the
Israeli decisions to annex Jerusalem and isolate it from its Palestinian
surroundings, and it is a policy that violates International agreements and
international law because Jerusalem is a city occupied in 1967 and its condition is
the same as the rest of the occupied Palestinian cities. The annexation decision is
illegal and illegitimate, and Jerusalem must be treated as an occupied city, and no
changes may be made that affect this legal status. It is a racist policy against
Palestinians by imposing the occupation curriculum on schools in Jerusalem.
What the schools are exposed to in Jerusalem is not new, but has been going on
for years, and which the Palestinians reject. Strikes have occurred during previous
years, especially last year, in rejection of this policy, in what the Palestinians in
Jerusalem called the slogan “the battle for education in Jerusalem.”



The result these days in Jerusalem is that the educational process is confused and
does not proceed normally. Many schools cannot be accessed by students due to
police siege and the policy of confiscating books. This negatively affects the
educational process and leads to its irregularity, which constitutes a violation of
the freedom of education and the provision of appropriate conditions for
students and educational bodies. For education. Thus, Israel is seriously violating
its obligations as an occupying power to provide these conditions in accordance
with the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
Ahmed Jaradat : Alternative Information Center - Palestine