Jerusalem Heats Up Ahead of Ramadan

Palestinians barricading the entrances to Jerusalem neighborhoods is part of a wider effort to raise tensions in the city ahead of Ramadan.

By Baruch Yadid | | Topics: palestinians, Jerusalem
Palestinians set up barricades and clashed with Israeli troops on the eastern side of Jerusalem as part of their Ramadan "celebrations."
Palestinians set up barricades and clashed with Israeli troops on the eastern side of Jerusalem as part of their Ramadan "celebrations." Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

(TPS) An umbrella organization of Palestinian factions in eastern Jerusalem calling itself the Islamic National Forces had announced that on Sunday morning, civil uprisings in the UN-administered Shuafat Refugee Camp and the nearby village of Anata would blockade the entrances of those areas.

The villages of Issawiya, Jabel Mukaber and Al-Ram announced that they were joining the campaign.

The organizations behind the Islamic National Forces published instructions on social media calling on residents to boycott the Jerusalem municipality and not to pay any fees, taxes or fines, and to even boycott property tax payments. The Palestinian organizations also forbade workers living in these neighborhoods from leaving to work. To enforce this directive, they ordered youths to block the access roads to the Shuafat and Anatha starting in the morning.

Young people, including masked residents of the neighborhoods, blocked key intersections with garbage cans and burning tires.

Police forces opened up the blockaded areas, and in one neighborhood, intervened when fights broke out between rioters and local residents who wanted to go to work.

Although it was initially believed that the residents were protesting checkpoints set up by police following terror attacks in recent days, an appeal by the organizers for wider solidarity suggested that the campaign is about drawing attention to Palestinian prisoners.

The Tazpit Press Service has learned from sources in Gaza that terror groups are considering resuming the launching of incendiary balloons into Israeli territory.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails began a campaign of disobedience on Thursday and threatened to launch a mass hunger strike during Ramadan against recent measures taken by Israeli Prison Service.

Palestinian sources told TPS last week that approximately 4,800 Palestinians will collectively refuse to cooperate with prison officials by not obeying orders, locking themselves in their cells, refusing to let guards search their cells, and not wearing prison uniforms.

The Ramadan hunger strike, if it happens, would be the largest mass hunger strike staged by the Palestinians, with prisoners affiliated with Fatah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups participating.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours and break their fast at sundown. The hunger striking prisoners will not eat at night either. Ramadan begins at sundown on March 22.

The eastern Jerusalem checkpoints were set up following two deadly terror attacks in recent days.

On Feb. 10, Hossein Qaraqa, a 31-year-old Israeli citizen and resident of Issawiya, plowed his car into a crowded bus stop in northern Jerusalem, killing three people, including two brothers ages six and eight.

On Feb. 13, Border Police Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed was fatally wounded aboard a bus while doing a routine security check at a checkpoint when a 13-year-old Palestinian boy pulled out a knife and stabbed him. A civilian guard aboard the bus fired but hit Sawaed instead. The boy, Muhammad Zalbani, was a resident of the Shuafat Refugee Camp adjacent to the checkpoint. Zalbani was detained unhurt.

On Wednesday, two Palestinians were arrested at a separate checkpoint trying to smuggle a disassembled M16 rifle, ammunition and a cartridge into the city from the Bethlehem area.

You Might Also Like
Load more
Members

Israel Today Membership

Read all member content. Access exclusive, in-depth reports from Israel! Free Zoom events. Connect with Israel right from your home! Raise a voice of truth and hope. Support Faith-based journalism in Jerusalem!

Monthly
Membership

$5
/ month
Full access to Israel Today's Member-only content on all Digital Platforms.
Become a Member

Yearly
Membership

$46
/ year
Full access to Israel Today's Member-only content on all Digital Platforms.
Save 18% Per Month.
Become a Member

Six Months
Membership

$28
every 6 months
Full access to Israel Today's Member-only content on all Digital Platforms.
Save 9% Per Month.
Become a Member
Israel Today comments guidelines Kommentar-Regeln

One response to “Jerusalem Heats Up Ahead of Ramadan”

  1. Vernon Ryan says:
    February 19, 2023 at 10:26 pm

    Reading the scripture and watching what is going on in Israel and the middle east, I can see the enemies of Israel in their desperation to evict Israel from her own land, I believe the Palestinians will even destroy the dome of the rock for the purpose of bringing the Islamic forces from all over the ME to destroy Israel.
    I see the Palestinians holding the dome as a hostage to get their way over the Israeli people, none of the things they do shows any real care for the mount or the dome other than what I have seen, over the last few years, they use it as a means for bad publicity against Israel. That is what I see the terrorism against Israel coming to in the near future.

Leave a Reply

Israel Today Newsletter

Daily news

FREE to your inbox

Israel Heute Newsletter

Tägliche Nachrichten

KOSTENLOS in Ihrer Inbox

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter