239 Palestinians dead after year of ‘Al-Quds Intifada’

By Anees Bargouthi

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A total of 239 Palestinians have been killed over the course of the last year -- following alleged attacks on Israelis or in clashes with Israeli forces -- in what some observers are calling the "Al-Quds Intifada" ("Jerusalem Uprising") against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

According to a statement issued this week by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, fatalities have included 59 Palestinian children and 28 women.

What’s more, the NGO said, some 21,800 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip over the same period.

The West Bank city of Hebron has seen the highest number of fatalities, with 80 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces. This was followed by Jerusalem (Al-Quds in Arabic), where 51 Palestinians have been killed within the past year.

In the blockaded Gaza Strip, meanwhile, 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire since last October, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The NGO went on to point out that the Israeli authorities had seized the bodies of 130 Palestinians slain in the West Bank, 18 of which were still being held in Israeli morgues.

According to Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service, at least 40 Israelis have been killed in Israeli/Palestinian violence -- and another 558 injured -- over the same one-year period.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, claims that 252 Palestinian knife attacks on Israelis, 87 attempted knife attacks, 107 shootings, and 47 vehicular attacks have been registered since October of last year.

- Mass arrests

Over the course of the same period, the Israeli authorities have detained 7,955 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to data provided by the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

In a recent statement, the NGO noted that 1,963 children and 229 women -- along with five Palestinian lawmakers and 41 journalists -- had been among those detained.

What’s more, the NGO said, the Israeli authorities had placed 1,436 Palestinian prisoners in "administrative detention" -- which allows them to be held indefinitely without trial or charge -- over the same period.

The Israeli army frequently carries out sweeping arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which ostensibly target Palestinians who are "wanted" by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Currently, over 7,000 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs.

- Target: Al-Aqsa

Meanwhile, according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a Palestinian NGO, some 13,230 extremist Jewish settlers and Israeli security personnel have forced their way into East Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the Al-Quds Intifada erupted one year ago.

In a statement, the NGO also asserted that the Israeli authorities had banned 233 Palestinians -- including 150 women and five minors -- from entering the holy site for periods ranging from 15 to 180 days.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

According to the same NGO, the Israeli authorities have also recently stepped up their longstanding policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in Jerusalem.

"Since last October, [Israel’s] Jerusalem municipality has demolished 140 Palestinian residential and commercial properties in East Jerusalem," it asserted.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming it as the unified capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories," considering all Jewish settlement building on the land to be illegal.