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Israeli work in an area containing Arab graves near a cemetery outside the Old City of Jerusalem has sparked outrage among Palestinians.
Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority and Israeli courts reportedly assured that the graves would not be impacted.
Work began on the site a number of years ago as part of efforts to form a park on the land next to the Yusufiya Cemetery, also known as the Bab Al-Asbat (Lion’s Gate) Cemetery.
Earlier this month, clashes between Arabs and Israeli security forces broke out at the site after human bones were reportedly uncovered by workers at the site.
شاهد| المقدسية أم علاء نبابتة تحتضن قبر ابنها لحمايته من عمليات النبش والتجريف التي يجريها الاحتلال في المقبرة اليوسفية في القدس المحتلة. pic.twitter.com/ER2n0fJ3vD
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) October 25, 2021
On October 25th, a video of a woman named Alaa Nababta showing her holding onto her son’s grave in the area as Israeli security forces attempted to pry her off went viral on social media, with many Arabic news sites using the footage to attack Israeli authorities.
Violent clashes have broken out at the site multiple times in the past month between Israeli security forces and Arab demonstrators in light of the controversy surrounding the site.
A spokesperson for the Nature and Parks Authority stressed that “no work is being done in the cemetery.”
“The work is being carried out on open public land designated for a public park and in the area of a national park located north of the cemetery,” said the spokesperson, adding that a number of graves were illegally placed in the area in recent years.
The spokesperson explained that although the burials were illegal, the work being carried out now would not damage the graves and that the graves would remain in place intact. Truly benevolent.
“The families of the buried were assured that the works would not damage the graves and certainly that there would be no removal of corpses,” said the spokesperson.
Joint List MK Ahmed Tibi expressed outrage at the ongoing work near the graves, stating “Israel and the municipality of Jerusalem hurt both the graves and Muslim feelings desecrating the cemetery and the graves.”
אם זה היה בית קברות יהודי באוקרניה או פולין : מה הייתם מכנים את הפגיעה בקברות וריסוק המצבות ? pic.twitter.com/VItn4jT7ZQ
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) October 25, 2021
Tibi called the work “an offensive and aggressive act towards the families of the dead,” and stressed that “if such brutal and violent act would have happened in Europe, Israel [would be] the first to shout and condemn, calling it ‘antisemitism.’
The Palestinian factions warned Israel against continuing work near the graves on, saying that they “will not stand idly by regarding these crimes.”
“We call on our people in the West Bank to escalate the state of engagement with the enemy with all available tools and means so that they know that their continued occupation of our land and our sanctuary means a heavy cost that they will pay from the blood of the soldiers and Zionist usurper,” said the factions. “The weapon of resistance will remain unfurled in the face of the Zionist enemy, and the ‘Sword of Jerusalem’ (the Palestinian name for the conflict with Gaza in May) will not be sheathed as long as the occupation remains on our land.”
“Unfortunately, the Nature and Parks Authority sees before its eyes the dry law and not the historical and deep connection that the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have, in this case, to the cemetery and the importance they attach to burial next to or near the Temple Mount,” said the Emek Shaveh organization in response to the situation.
“This is while Israel is doing everything possible to allow Jewish burial on the Mount of Olives. It seems that Muslim cemeteries are treated differently from Jewish ones.”
Meanwhile, the United States said it strongly opposed Israel’s plans for Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank as damaging for peace prospects between Israelis and Palestinians.
“We are deeply concerned about the Israeli government’s plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep in the West Bank,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a briefing.
“We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution,” Price said.
Despite these claims, Washington is unlikely to undertake any action against it, and Tel Aviv is likely to continue pursuing its settlement policy.
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