Israeli settlers have committed 11,000 assaults since the beginning of this year, the Arab League said.
In a Sunday statement, the league’s secretariat said that attempts by Israeli settlers to force their way into East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound have surged considerably.
On Sunday, Jewish settlers raised Israeli flags outside the gates of flashpoint compound in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967.
This came one week after a Palestinian baby was burnt to death in an arson attack by settlers near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The Arab League accused Israeli authorities of “providing funds to settlers and extremists to continue their assaults against Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.”
The Israeli violations “run counter to the UN Charter, international law, and international legitimacy resolutions,” the pan-Arab body said, going on to hold Israel responsible for “the crimes committed by extremist settlers.”
The league called for the UN Security Council and signatories of the UN Charter and Geneva Accords to intervene to halt settler assaults.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
In recent months, groups of Jewish extremists – often accompanied by Israeli security forces – have repeatedly forced their way into the Al-Aqsa complex. The frequent violations anger Palestinian Muslims and occasionally lead to violent confrontations.
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ATTACKS ON GAZA:
JANUARY – JUNE 2015
In the first six months of 2015, Israeli occupation forces killed 1 Palestinian and wounded a further 41 in the Gaza Strip.
During January-June, there were eight military incursions – when Israeli forces enter Gaza then withdraw – and 93 shooting attacks on land and at sea (these are conservative figures, taken from UN OCHA, PCHR-Gaza, and media sources).
These routine attacks target farmers, fishermen, and unarmed civilian protesters. The Israeli military’s unilateral imposition of a ‘no go’ zone close to the border fence, as well as in Gaza’s waters, is a key part of the ongoing blockade.
Palestinians in Gaza fired a total of five rockets into southern Israel during January-June, causing no injuries. On each occasion, Israel struck locations in Gaza linked to Hamas – even though Al-Qassam Brigades did not fire the rockets – and these strikes are not included in this data.
93 shooting incidents
8 military incursions into the Gaza Strip
42 injuries & fatalities
