Jerusalemites face multiple sanctions since war erupts | Politics
Occupied Jerusalem Since the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, a collective Israeli campaign of revenge has been launched against the people of Jerusalem, especially activists and freed prisoners, by depriving many of them of their freedom and severely beating them, then releasing them on conditions or transferring them to actual prison on charges of “incitement.”
Over time, other forms of revenge emerged in the Holy City. Old files of many Jerusalemites were dug up, and they were punished retroactively for them. New files were opened for them in various official departments, and many activists found themselves drowning in a sea of debt and labyrinths.
Al Jazeera Net went to the town of At-Tur to meet with the two Jerusalemite activists Fatima Khader (67 years old) and Wafaa Abu Juma (57 years old) and to hear a small portion of the forms of persecution and revenge they received from the occupation authorities, especially after the outbreak of the war.
Pursuit and revenge
Fatima Khader, or as the people of Jerusalem used to call her, “the fighter Umm Ayman,” finds it difficult to walk due to the physical pain she suffers from the beatings and attacks she has been subjected to over the years while confronting the occupation’s violations in the holy city.
Palestinian traditional embroidery adorns her hijab, clothes, necklace, and even her bag. Despite all the psychological pain caused by the scenes of the war of extermination in Gaza, her smile adorns her face from time to time and she says, “It’s simple… we will persevere until our last breath.”
But the details of her daily life are not simple, as she is pursued in the simplest matters. Her entry to Al-Aqsa Mosque is difficult. She says, “Since the outbreak of the war… my picture was posted on the doors, and I was not allowed to enter the mosque for long weeks… Dozens of elements pursued me to Bab al-Amoud, where I was forced to pray on its steps.”
Although she sometimes succeeds in entering the first of the two Qiblahs now, she tries again at 3 gates and enters the fourth or fifth time.
She added, “The police search my bag and the food I bring, and they deliberately humiliate me at the door. I once said to one of them: Even though your synagogues were built on Palestinian land, we do not go to your places of worship and make things difficult for you, so why all this pressure on Muslims' worship and their sanctities?”
“There are no facilities, and the occupation is lying.” Activist Fatima Khader talks about the occupation's strict measures to prevent worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa easily, and says that Al-Aqsa deserves all of this.
For more: https://t.co/9N19nqMvMn pic.twitter.com/mbm3AoLRkX– Al Jazeera Net | Quds (@Aljazeeraquds) March 16, 2024
13 security files
Not only was Umm Ayman persecuted for her right to access places of worship, but her previous files were also dug up. She explains that 13 security files were opened against her over the years, and Israeli intelligence insists on reminding her of them from time to time to dissuade her from taking any action during the war.
She says, “I undergo physical therapy sessions and suffer from many health problems due to what I was exposed to during field arrests. I am always punished with exorbitant financial bails and I discover that I have debts owed to me and I always try to pay them off for fear of accumulating them. They are often related to financial bails after arrest and detention for me and my children, or tax files or those related to the occupation municipality or national insurance.”
As a punitive measure, the occupation authorities temporarily suspended the elderly allowance that Fatima was supposed to receive on a monthly basis, and she was threatened with the withdrawal of her residency in Jerusalem on the grounds that her center of life is located outside the city. This elderly woman confirms that all these arbitrary measures aim to displace Palestinians from Jerusalem.
In a low voice and with a sad tone, Fatima concluded her talk to Al Jazeera Net by saying, “All these prosecutions are worth nothing compared to the genocide in Gaza. Its children who are being slaughtered are our children. When will the blood of our people be stopped? Our cause is the cause of all the free and honorable people of the world. We have had enough displacement and renewed catastrophes for 76 years.”
Jewish elderly service
For her part, Wafaa Abu Jumaa, who began to be pursued and her family in 2013, says that she too suffered all kinds of humiliation, and that the harshest part of her pursuit was forcing her to perform “compulsory public service without pay.”
“I worked for a whole year in a laundry in a Jewish nursing home, and I suffered from daily insults and a lack of consideration for my health condition, as I was diagnosed with diabetes and heart disease. I had three heart attacks, but that did not help me get fired from work.”
The activist was arrested several times, the last of which was in 2018, when she was sentenced to 6 months in prison on charges of “incitement on Facebook.” After her release, she was forced to perform “compulsory service,” but the chapters of the persecution did not end there.
After building a small house for her son, she was issued a fine of $16,000 for building it without a permit. Months ago, she was surprised to find that the fine had been doubled, and the occupation authorities are now demanding that she pay a building fine of nearly $73,000.
“Last April, I went to Jordan, and they sent me back on the pretext that I was banned from traveling due to the debts I had accumulated, even though they did not send us any notice of this. I immediately knew that this was part of the revenge against activists. I returned to my home and hired a lawyer to follow up on the debts file,” she added.
Driving license withdrawal
Not only that, but Wafa discovered by chance that her driving license had been withdrawn without her being informed of this punitive measure. When she asked about the reason for this, she was told that she had once written on her Facebook page during the wave of run-over attacks in Jerusalem, “You run over them and I will fill up your gas tank at my expense.”
This phrase – which Wafaa says she wrote spontaneously – was enough to punish her by having her driver's license revoked forever.
These two women exchange their similar concerns at times, and at other times they are glued to the breaking news on Al Jazeera, and they console each other that what they and all Jerusalemites are suffering from is nothing compared to the daily massacres in Gaza.
We left the house to the sound of a call from the activist Umm Ayman after her phone rang with a song:
You who are going to Jerusalem, take me with you
I pray to my Lord and say may my Lord protect you
Pass through Bab al-Amoud wearing your expensive keffiyeh
Look at the civilization of the ancestors and the tall figures
She picked up the call and said, “Oh mom… I embroidered Jerusalem and Gaza on fabric and put them in frames to participate in an exhibition in Jordan if the war doesn’t break out.”