Dozens of Palestinians performed Friday prayers in front of homes threatened with eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, amid tension that has prevailed in the neighborhood for days, against the backdrop of the establishment of an office by the Israeli extremist Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir in the neighborhood, and the threat to evict the Salem family.
More than 200 Palestinians participated in the Friday prayer, which was held in a street near the home of the Salem family, who is threatened with displacement, and the participants also performed the absentee prayer for the souls of the Palestinian martyrs after the end of the prayer.
Large forces of the Israeli occupation police were deployed at the neighborhood's entrances and alleys, and a number of settlers carrying an Israeli flag arrived in the neighborhood.
The preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, said - in the Friday sermon in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood - that evacuating residents from their homes is one of the worst forms of injustice.
He added that injustice takes many forms, and one of its worst forms is the assault on lands and homes, and attempts to evict you from your homes.
Sheikh Sabri addressed the worshipers by saying, "We salute you for defending your homes and lands, as well as the residents in (town) Silwan. We salute you for your steadfastness and are proud of you."
Part of the Friday sermon in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem These moments # Save_Sheikh_Jarrah's neighborhood #SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/zO8XbRyNov
— AlQastal Al Qastal (@AlQastalps) February 18, 2022
He added, "Oh, sons of Sheikh Jarrah, you are part of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is part of you, and the neighborhood is a trust in your necks and the necks of all Muslims in the world, because this land is sacred and blessed, sanctified by God."
On the other hand, Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque ended without any incidents being recorded.
The Department of Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem said that more than 65,000 people performed prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
A state of extreme tension had prevailed in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood a week ago, after extremist MP Itamar Ben Gvir set up a tent on the land of the Salem family in the neighborhood.
During the past two days, the occupation police set up several barriers at the entrances to the neighborhood and spread it in its streets, to prevent the solidarity activists from reaching the area.
Security reinforcements at the entrance to the Salem family's home in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood # Save_Sheikh_Jarrah's neighborhood #SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/zBkQW1lTFk
— AlQastal Al Qastal (@AlQastalps) February 18, 2022
International officials visit families
Senior officials of United Nations agencies and humanitarian community organizations, accompanied by diplomats, visited the home of Salem family in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which is facing the threat of forced eviction by the Israeli occupation authorities in favor of settlers.
The United Nations institutions said in a written statement that was read out at the end of the meeting that the danger of displacement threatens Salem's family of 12 people, including 6 children and the elderly mother Fatima Salem (70 years), all of whom are Palestinian refugees.
The statement added that Salem's family is one of 218 Palestinian families - 970 individuals, including 424 children - living in East Jerusalem, mainly in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, and is currently facing the threat of forced eviction by the Israeli authorities.
The Director of UNRWA operations in the West Bank, Gwen Lewis, called on the Israeli government to halt the eviction of Salem's family from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
She said - in a statement to reporters after visiting the family's home - that a delegation that included officials from the United Nations and representatives of several countries came to express their support for the family threatened with eviction.
Gwen confirmed the presence of the Palestinian family in their home since 1948, noting that UNRWA had asked representatives of several countries to visit the neighborhood, to convey the voices of Palestinian families to the world.
And Israeli decisions to evacuate Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood last May triggered confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces that spread from Jerusalem to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Arab cities and towns in Israel.
Palestinians say that while Israel prevents Palestinians from claiming their pre-Nakba property under the 1948 Israeli Absentee Property Law, it allows Israeli settlers to claim what they say was property belonging to Jews before 1948 in East Jerusalem.
#photos|
Large numbers of Palestinians perform Friday prayers in the precincts of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
pic.twitter.com/UtgAqxSHN6
- Al Jarmaq News (@aljarmaqnet) February 18, 2022
Dozens injured in confrontations with the occupation
On the other hand, 135 Palestinians were wounded today, Friday, during clashes with the Israeli army, south and east of Nablus governorate (in the northern West Bank).
And the Palestinian Red Crescent (non-governmental) said - in a statement - that its teams dealt with 131 injuries in clashes in the towns of Beita and Beit Dajan (south and east of Nablus).
Pictures from the clashes in the town of Beita, south of Nablus pic.twitter.com/dFzyEeISuq
— The Voice of Al-Aqsa (@Alaqsavoice) February 18, 2022
He added that most of the injuries in the towns of Beita were treated on the ground, while only two were taken to a local hospital to complete treatment, noting that the Israeli army impeded the arrival of ambulances to the scene of the confrontations as a result of razing the roads.
For several months, the town of Beita has witnessed almost daily protests, intensifying on Friday, against the Israeli control over private Palestinian lands located in Jabal Sbeih.
The eastern region of Beit Dajan also witnesses weekly popular activities rejecting the decision to confiscate a large area of Palestinian land for settlement purposes.
In the city of Hebron (south of the West Bank), an eyewitness told Anatolia that 4 young men were wounded by rubber bullets in clashes that erupted in the areas of Bab Al-Zawiya and Al-Shallala Street in the center of the city.
The witness explained that the occupation soldiers fired live and rubber bullets at young men who, after Friday prayers, marched against settlements towards points where the Israeli army is located.
About 666,000 Israeli settlers are distributed among 145 large settlements and 140 random outposts (not licensed by the Israeli government) in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli human rights movement Peace Now.