Jerusalem Center for Palestinian and Israeli Affairs Studies published its annual statistics for the year 2020, based on what was monitored by the Field Monitoring Unit on a daily basis, on the various violations that the Palestinian people were subjected to at the hands of Israel in various aspects of life, including all governorates of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Center team pointed out that the year 2020 witnessed a decrease in the number of martyrs compared to previous years to some extent, while the percentage and nature of violations increased.

The Field Monitoring Unit at the center recorded that the number of the martyrs was 48, from different governorates of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 9 of whom were children and a nursing woman.

Among the martyrs were two people with disabilities, 4 prisoners, 8 resistance activists in the Gaza Strip in the field of preparation and equipment, 3 in the Israeli bombing of the Strip, and two who succumbed to their wounds sustained during the Gream March of Return.

Israeli authorities, the center said, still hold the bodies of 18 martyrs who died during the year 2020, including prisoners in the Israeli prisons, and they still refuse to hand them over to their families.

Moreover, the Center recorded that the arrest cases in  2020 amounted to 3648 cases, including 98 arrests of Palestinian women, most of whom were released after periods of detention, and 277 children.

Israel also arrested 9 of the Legislative Council deputies, some of them were released, 3 of them still arrested.

According to the center, 020 witnessed massive incursions into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, carried out by settlers, accompanied by officers and soldiers of the Israeli army. The number of settlers who stormed Al-Aqsa during the year reached about 29,000 settlers.

The Israeli authorities took advantage of the Coronavirus pandemic to implement its complete control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by closing it for several days, and preventing Palestinians from entering it, under the pretext of applying health safety rules, while settlers were allowed during the same period to storm it.

The year 2020 witnessed also an escalation in the Israeli racist policies and an increase in its violations against the Palestinians as the number of the violations reached 4,672, according to the follow-up of the Field Monitoring Unit

In the context of the settlement policy, Israeli forces demolished more than 309 Palestinian structures and notified owners of 392 facilities to be demolished.

The Center monitored 167 settlement attacks on Palestinian lands, carried out by the Israeli forces or its settlers, by establishing camps or outposts on them, or by uprooting or cutting trees, and paving roads for the benefit of settlements, especially in the West Bank.

Source : Safa