Occupied Jerusalem: ‘There is no Palestinian male that hasn’t been beaten’

Violence by Israeli forces against Palestinian men in Jerusalem has increased after October 7.

Damascus Gate, occupied East Jerusalem – Samer and Omar* woke up early on Friday morning, hoping to make it to noon prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Located just 15 minutes away from their homes in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem, the two young friends are among the tens of thousands of Palestinians in the city who attend Friday prayers at the mosque – one of the holiest in Islam.

But when the two arrived at Damascus Gate – the main entrance used by Palestinians to the Old City – they were stopped by Israeli forces.

“Where are you from?” the officer asked Samer and Omar, aged 22 and 28 respectively.

“Issawiya,” they replied.

“Go back to Issawiya and pray there,” the officer told them – a response that multiple Palestinian men said they received as they tried to enter that Friday. While Israeli forces had imposed a strict closure on the Old City since October 7, they have loosened the restrictions slightly the past two Fridays, allowing more people to enter.

The two men, feeling antagonised, turned away and went to grab something to drink from a kiosk opposite the Israeli forces checkpoint. Shortly after, the Israeli officers approached them and told them to leave the area – the most central area for Palestinians in the city – without offering any explanation.

“They started pushing us and then beat my friend with the baton,” Samer told media after the incident. “We tried to say ‘don’t touch us.’”

Omar, the 28-year-old, suffered heavier blows than his friend. A strip of the skin on his leg looked as though it had been burned; he was in pain and was not able to walk.

“They don’t want us here. They want us out of this country, and to forget about the homeland,” said Samer, still frazzled by the beating.

“To be a male in Jerusalem – it’s not a life,” he said. “Just simply existing as a Palestinian male in Jerusalem – that bothers them.”

Yet, the young men say they have no option but to stay strong.

“This is at the end of the day, a military occupation. We will never leave here, no matter what they do,” Samer said, before the two jumped on a bus going back home.

‘Beatings, provocative searches, cursing’

Since October 7, life for Palestinians living under the 57-year Israeli military occupation in Jerusalem has become much more difficult than it already was.

That day, Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others captive. Israel responded with a brutal military campaign, first by air and then on the ground as well, killing more than 29,000 people — mostly women and children — in Gaza, less than 80km (48 miles) away from Jerusalem, over the past four months. Thousands of others are buried under the rubble and presumed dead.

Abu Mohammad*, who runs a store and lives inside the Old City, said that after October 7 – especially during the first few days and weeks – Israeli forces imposed a strict curfew after 5pm.

“No one was allowed to stand in the street after 5pm, even if we live in the Old City. If we did, they would attack us with beatings, provocative searches, cursing at us,” the 30-year-old told media.

Describing the situation today and how violence by Israeli forces unfolds, Abu Mohammad said, “Anytime a male wants to enter the Old City, they get searched.

“A group of soldiers will search this one man. While they are searching you, they hit you with their elbows, with their knees, to provoke you to say something.

“If you say anything, you find them all on top of you, punching you on the head and all over your body. All of a sudden, you need a hospital,” explained Abu Mohammad.

He noted that the Israeli officers “don’t differentiate between older and younger men.”

“I have seen them push elderly men. They don’t care,” he said. “There is no Palestinian male here that hasn’t been beaten,” the father-of-three continued.

Attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinians in Jerusalem have not only targeted residents and passersby. They have also targeted journalists trying to do their jobs.

Mustafa Kharouf, a 36-year-old resident of the city and a photojournalist with the Turkish Anadolu Agency, was severely beaten by Israeli paramilitary officers while reporting on December 15.