Summary of Israeli Occupation’s Violations in June 2020
Prepared By: Walid Zaied
This report reviews the most prominent attacks carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against the Palestinians and their properties, as well as settlement violations against Palestinian lands in June 2020. The total attacks reached to 2,051 attacks against Palestinian citizens, lands, and properties. The report relied on more than one source: the Palestinian Monitoring Group of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization and We Watch Israeli Violations (WeWIV).
The following table presents the violations committed by the IOF in May 2020:
| Killed | 2 |
| Injured | 86 |
| Arrested | 488 |
| Detained | 42 |
| Removed from Al-Aqsa Mosque or Jerusalem | 47 |
| Raids into Palestinian residential areas | 342 |
| Shootings | 206 |
| Home demolitions | 44 |
| Confiscation of Palestinian property | 20 |
| Sudden military checkpoints | 408 |
| Assault on the holy places | 22 |
| Settlers attacks | 72 |
| Land leveling | 3 |
| Settlement activities | 11 |
| Land confiscation | 2 |
| Damaged trees | 121 |
| Bypass roads | 5 |
| Home confiscation | 1 |
Palestinians Killed and wounded:
Last June witnessed the death of two Palestinians, one of them in the West Bank, who was shot dead near the Al-Container checkpoint north of Bethlehem, while the other victim was from the Gaza Strip who died of an injury he had during his participation in the Great March of Return eastern Gaza in 2018.
During raids and confrontations in June, IOF Injured 86 Palestinians, all of them from the West Bank including three children and two journalists.
Arrests, detentions, and removals from the Al-Aqsa Mosque:
During daily raids and through checkpoints IOF arrested 488 Palestinians, most of them from the governorates of the West Bank including 36 children, ten women and two journalists.
The highest number of arrests was in Jerusalem governorate where 172 Palestinians were detained there. Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate came second with 58 arrests. Hebron governorate was the third (45 arrests) while two Palestinians were arrested from the Gaza Strip governorates.
On the expulsion from Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque policy, the IOF had removed 47 Palestinians last June, more than five times increase from May. For periods ranging between one week and six months, 38 Palestinians have been removed from Al-Aqsa Mosque, most importantly, Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri. Six Palestinians have been removed from their places of residence and work in Jerusalem, such as Silwan town and Al-Taur neighborhood, some of them were deported to Ramallah city.
Military checkpoints, raids, and shootings:
During June, IOF established 408 sudden military checkpoints in various governorates of the West Bank. The number of checkpoints in Bethlehem was 86, the highest among other governorates, followed by Hebron, with 81 checkpoints, then Salfit Governorate, with 68 checkpoints.
IOF carried out 342 incursions in June, eight of which were in the Gaza Strip, while the rest were in residential areas in the West Bank. Ramallah, Al-Bireh, and Hebron, received the largest share of the raids with 52 incursions each, followed by Jerusalem, with 45 raids.
The Israeli Army carried out 206 shootings, 116 of them in the West Bank governorates, and 90 in the Gaza Strip. The shootings in the West Bank governorates came during the incursions and the raids and through checkpoints. In the Gaza Strip, shootings were launched from military sites at the eastern border of Gaza, and by sea boats, and warplanes.
Demolishment, Bulldozing, and Possessing Palestinian Properties:
During June, the occupation carried out 44 home demolitions, all in the West Bank and Jerusalem governorates. Demolitions were distributed in the governorates of Jerusalem, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jericho, Hebron, and Bethlehem. Jerusalem had the largest share of the demolished houses, with 22 homes in the neighborhoods of Beit Hanina, Silwan, Jabal al-Mukaber, Abu Dis, Eastern Sawahrah, and Anata. The demolitions, under the pretext of lack of licensing, were carried out by the Israeli bulldozers or forcing the homeowners to demolish their own homes.
IOF leveled three lands in different areas in the West Bank, beginning with agricultural land belonging to Palestinians in the village of Qasra, south of Nablus; lands inside the village of Beit Iksa, west of Jerusalem; and land in the village of Ezbet Al-Tabib under the pretext of installing water lines.
During IOF’s storming of Palestinian homes and their areas of residence 20 cases of confiscation of Palestinians’ properties were reported. The confiscation operations included camera equipment and records. Additionally, a house in the Silwan neighborhood, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, was also seized for the benefit of the Ir David Foundation.
Assaults on the holy places
The Israeli forces carried out 20 attacks on holy sites during June. Assaults on Al-Aqsa Mosque were mainly represented in the settlers’ storming of the Mosque to preform Talmudic prayers and rituals, as the Mosque was re-opened after it was closed due to the Coronavirus.
Settlement activities
The most prominent settlement activities carried out by IOF during June:
– 2-6-2020: Settlers started building a one-kilometer settlement road that links from the lands of the Tal village in Nablus Governorate, to “Jaffat Gilad” settlement outpost.
– 2-6-2020: Israeli soldiers used a bulldozer to make a new settlement road that passes through agricultural lands belonging to the village of Jannatah in the Bethlehem Governorate.
– 7-6-2020: Settlers, with the protection of the occupying forces, placed a group of mobile homes on the top of Jabal Al-Matala on the lands of Beit Furik village, east of Nablus, in an attempt to establish a new outpost.
– 10/6-2020: The occupation army started building a new settlement road west of the Hamra checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, and the lands from which the road was constructed follow the Beit Dajan furniture.
– 16-6-2020: The occupation built a settlement road that runs from the lands of Khirbet al-Makhour, west of Beit Jala, in the Bethlehem governorate.
– 16/6-2020: The occupation shoveled lands near the “Nokadim” settlement, which belongs to the village of Al-Fardis, east of Bethlehem. Kamal settlement projects.
– June 17, 2020: The occupation carried out bulldozing activities within a project to construct a 7-km settlement road on the lands of Qasra village, south of Nablus, to link the Ish Kodesh and Majdulim settlements.
– 06/21-2020: The occupation forces started expansion activities for a settlement road that runs from the town of Nahalin in the Bethlehem governorate and connects the settlements of Betar Illit and Givot.
– 29-6-2020: The occupation forces bulldozed the lands of the confiscated citizens in Silwan, specifically in Wadi Rababa, and worked on building stone chains in them.
The most prominent attacks by settlers:
The number of attacks by settlers against Palestinians during the month of last June reached 72 attacks, an increase of 63% over the previous month in various governorates of the West Bank and Jerusalem. We review the following most prominent of these attacks:
– 2-6-2020: An Israeli settler ran over a child near the village of Azzun, on the road between the cities of Qalqilya and Nablus, which resulted in bruises.
– 2-6-2020: Israeli settlers attacked the house of a citizen in the village of Burin and sat fire to the agricultural lands of the citizens. The occupation backed the settlers and fired tear gas canisters towards the citizens.
– 2-6-2020: Israeli settlers used bulldozers to block an agricultural road used by citizens that leads to the village of Kafr El-Dik in Salfit.
– 3-6-2020: The settlers, under the protection of the occupation forces, attacked the homes of citizens in Yatta, Hebron Governorate.
– 4-6-2020: Settlers cut the branches of 36 olive trees south of Burin village, south of Nablus, and set fire to the wheat crop.
– 7-6-2020: The settlers stole agricultural crops in Khirbet Al-Twain Bita, Hebron Governorate.
– 7-6-2020: Settlers stormed Al-Sawiya village in Nablus, damaged tires of 8 cars, and wrote hostile slogans on the walls of the village.
– 10/6-2020: Settlers attacked a citizen in Khirbet Tana, east of Nablus, which resulted in bruises.
11-6-2020: The settlers burned a car of a Palestinian citizen, along with a line of hostile slogans, as they stormed the village of Zita Jamma’in in the Nablus governorate.
– 11-6-2020: Settlers attacked a citizen while working on his land in the village of Barqa, south of Nablus, that resulted in a broken leg and bruises throughout his body.
– 12-6-2020: Settlers burned agricultural lands for the citizens in Al-Sawiya village, south of Nablus, which led to the damage of a number of olive trees.
– 06/14-2020: A settler ran over a citizen near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, which resulted in bruises.
16-6-2020: Settlers set up a tent in front of the citizens ’homes in the Ain Al-Hilweh area in the northern Jordan Valley.
– 17-6-2020: Settlers burn wide lands planted with wheat for the citizens in Qasra village, south of Nablus, and the occupation entered and fired rubber bullets and gas canisters towards the citizens.
– 17-6-2020: A settler from “Ma’fot Jericho” settlement bulldozes lands for citizens on the al-Mi’rajat road between Jericho and Ramallah.
– 18-6-2020: A settler assaults the Jerusalemites on their lands threatened with expropriation in Silwan neighborhood, causing an elderly person with facial burns due to pepper gas.
– 19-6-2020: Settlers in the Tel Rumaida neighborhood in Hebron prevented a Palestinian family from entering their home in the Old City of Hebron.
19-6-2020: A settler attacked a child in the village of Al-Khader in Bethlehem, which resulted in bruises.
– 21-6-2020: Settlers attacked a citizen with a sharp object near Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, causing head injuries.
– 23-6-2020: A group of settlers attacked three citizens of one family while working on their land in the village of Ras Karkar in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate and they suffered bruises.
– June 25-2020: The settlers placed two mobile homes on the lands belonging to the village of Madama in the Nablus governorate, in an attempt to create a new outpost.
– 06/26-2020: Settlers sat up a tent on the lands of Al-Harasha area in the western farm in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, and citizens were able to remove the tent and expel settlers from the area.
– June 29-2020: The settlers put a number of mobile homes on lands belonging to Asira Al-Shamalia village in Nablus, in an attempt to establish a new outpost.
– 30-30-2020: Settlers cut olive tree branches on citizens’ lands in Kafr El-Dik village, Salfit.
– 06-30-2020: Settlers beat a citizen from the village of Siniria in Qalqilya governorate, causing bruises.
– 06-30-2020: Settlers stormed the Jabal Al-Najmah area, under the protection of the occupation forces, between Seir and Halhul in the Hebron Governorate, in an attempt to establish a settlement outpost on the top of the mountain.
