CURRENT SITUATION
During the month of May, Israel tried again to form a government, after the last election occurred two months before. At the end of May, the parties of Yamina and Yair Lapid reached an agreement, according to which their leaders will respectively take turns as Prime Minister for the next five years. Both leaders will have a mandate of 2 years and half long.
The fight against the occupations in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood continued throughout the whole month: many people were arrested and, in the middle of the month, the road to access the area was blocked with concrete barriers. The police constantly monitored the district, raiding several times and removing people from the neighborhood.
May 11th is the so-called Jerusalem Day, commemorating the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City after the "6-Day War". On that day, Israeli military forces threw grenades into Al Aqsa Mosque, causing a fire. The police broke up the Muslim believers by sticks, rubber bullets and tear gas.
Just after that, hundreds of settlers entered the Old City and headed the Temple Mount. Hamas gave an ultimatum and then some rockets were fired from Gaza to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In just 11 days, more than 6,000 missiles were launched over Israel and Gaza, killing 230 people and injuring 1,710 persons in the Strip. The Israeli air force hit civilian placements such as residential buildings, international media headquarters and communication routes to hospitals. On May 23rd, after the truce, Egypt tried to send medical aid for the population which have been initially blocked by Israel. Several protests arose in West Bank and Israel. Especially in the cities of Lod and Haifa, real punitive patrols were perpetrated against the Palestinians in the area: settlers from all over Israel damaged Palestinian shops. In West Bank, two general strikes were announced thus stopping all the activities. Many demonstrations were held in all the main cities and near the checkpoints. During these protests, hundreds of Palestinians were injured and many of them died. At the end of the month, Israel began the "Law and Order" campaign in the State of Israel’s territory, with the aim to arrest more than 500 Palestinians, according to Israeli government’s statements.
SHARING, WORK AND NEWS ABOUT VOLUNTEERS
On May 13th, the Israeli army raided the village of At-Tuwani, escorting many settlers. During the raid, soldiers fired rubber bullets and real projectiles against the Palestinians who had rushed, as well as sound bombs and tear gas. At the end of the day, 6 people were wounded by rubber bullets and one of them by a real one. He was treated in the hospital. Also another Palestinian was hit in the head with a smoke bomb and remained injured.
On May 22nd the settlers from the Israeli illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on burned the trees in the Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani.
As the Palestinians rushed to put out the fire, the settlers reached the Sarura caves, setting fire to one of them and destroying everything in it. When the police and the army arrived, the military attacked the Palestinians, wounding one of them, and they did not prevent the settlers from leaving. In the meantime, the settlers had also set fire to the fields in front of the Sarura caves.
On May 23rd, Israeli police, escorted by the army, raided again the village of At-Tuwani, arresting two people, including an elderly man. During the action, the police violently attacked women and children inside the house, injuring one of the former, and also the Palestinian activists who were filming the arrest. The next day, another Palestinian from the same family was called for a deposition at the Israeli police station in Kyriat Arba and he was arrested.
On May 26th, the Israeli police raided again the village of At-Tuwani thus arresting two other Palestinians and ordering a third one to appear at the police station a few days later. All five Palestinians have been accused of assaulting the police: the trial is still ongoing.
OPERAZIONE COLOMBA
