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West Bank Dispatch: Ramadan crackdown stirs revolt

On April 4 and 5, Israeli forces attacked Palestinian worshipers at the Al-Aqsa compound, and rights groups say more than 400 were arrested. Palestinians from the river to the sea are rising up in outrage.
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Israeli security forces remove a Palestinian Muslim woman sitting on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan on April 5. (Photo: AFP)
Israeli security forces remove a Palestinian Muslim woman sitting on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan on April 5. (Photo: AFP)

Key Developments (April 4 – April 6)

Read more from the West Bank Dispatch here.
Read more from the West Bank Dispatch here.
  • Two Israeli soldiers were injured in a stabbing on Tuesday, April 4, in central Israel. According to reports, the Palestinian who carried out the stabbing was from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, and was injured during the operation. 
  • Israeli forces conducted raids throughout the West Bank, arresting dozens of Palestinians. Several Palestinians were wounded with live ammunition during an Israeli raid on the Bethlehem-area Dheisheh refugee camp on April 4. 
  • The crackdown on Jerusalem came to a head on April 5, as Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site of Islam. Over the course of two major raids on Wednesday, Israeli forces violently beat Palestinian worshipers inside the mosque prayer halls, and across the compound’s grounds. Dozens of Palestinians suffered injuries, and local rights groups reported more than 400 Palestinians were arrested from the compound, many of whom were subsequently served bans from returning to the mosque for a period of time. The local health clinic and the historic Qibli prayer hall sustained significant damage.
  • As Israeli forces heavily restricted Palestinian access to the Mosque, police and border police forces escorted  hundreds of Jewish settlers onto the compound for the Passover holiday. 
  • The Israeli violence at Al-Aqsa has sparked widespread protest across Palestine, reminiscent of the beginnings of the 2021 Unity Uprisings. Palestinian citizens of Israel took to the streets in protest in cities like Haifa, Umm al-Fahm, Arraba, Shefa Amr, and more. Those protests were mimicked in cities across the West Bank; in Gaza, rockets were fired from the strip into Israel on Wednesday and were met with Israeli airstrikes. By Thursday, Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza threatened more retaliatory rocket fire if Israel continued its attacks on the holy site in Jerusalem. 
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his willingness to maintain the “status quo” at the holy site. While the internationally recognized status quo of the Al-Aqsa mosque is that it falls under the administration of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, and the custodianship of Jordan, in reality, the status quo at the site is one of near constant raids and restrictions on Palestinian worship, as evidenced by the past 48 hours, and the past several Ramadans in Jerusalem.  

Important figures

  • Since the start of the year, 95 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and the Israeli army
  • Jenin and Nablus comprise 62% of all killings at the hands of settlers and the military. 

Mondoweiss Highlights

Israel attacks Al-Aqsa two nights in a row, beating worshipers at holy site by Mariam Barghouti

Analysts say Palestinians will pay the price for Israeli ‘democracy’ by Yumna Patel  

The war on the Ramadan commons, by the Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau

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