For 2nd day in row, Israeli forces demolish, sabotage Al-Yusufiya Cemetery in Jerusalem
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces since the early morning hours of Tuesday started demolishing and sabotaging parts of the Al-Yusufiya Cemetery, one of the most important and prominent Islamic cemeteries in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Local sources said that the forces earlier today stormed the site and started again demolishing and sabotaging parts of the Al-Yusufiya Cemetery, a step that came after the Israeli court ordered the Israeli municipality in occupied Jerusalem to resume the demolishing works of the land to establish a biblical national park.
They are not even letting the dead rest in peace!
This #Palestinian mother is hugging her son’s grave, Alaa Nababta, as the Israeli bulldozers are destroying the Islamic Al-Yusufiya Cemetery in occupied Jerusalem to create a "national park" instead. pic.twitter.com/yTbxtFMY6i
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 26, 2021
Watch | The mother of late Alaa Nababta, a deceased Palestinian citizen of occupied #Jerusalem, clings to her son's grave as the Israeli occupation forces attempt to forcibly remove her in preparation for bulldozing the Islamic Al-Yusufiya Cemetery in the occupied city. pic.twitter.com/ufSUIT8BSB
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 25, 2021
Israeli settlers were also seen cutting olive trees at the Cemetery under the occupation forces protection.
Watch | Israeli colonial settlers destroy trees in the Islamic Al-Yusufiya cemetery outside the old city of #Jerusalem, today. #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/keiD7Q68p4
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 25, 2021
Yusufiya Cemetery is located north of the al-Rahma Gate cemetery, adjacent to the eastern wall of the occupied city of Jerusalem.
It has been targeted for years by Israeli excavations which reached archaeological structures close to the doorstep of the al-Asbat Gate.
The occupation municipality has been working to surround the Cemetery with Judaizing projects, paths and Talmudic parks along the eastern wall of Jerusalem and adjacent to the cemetery to hide the features of the original paths and historical sites surrounding the cemetery.
In this context, in December 202, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the wall of the cemetery adjacent to the al-Asbat Gate and removed its archaeological stairs in addition to the stairs leading to the martyrs’ cemetery.
The Cemetery houses the graves of Palestinian, Jordanian and Iraqi martyrs who were killed by Israeli militias during the 1967 war in Palestine.
In 2014, the occupation authorities prevented the burial in the cemetery’s northern area and removed 20 graves of Jordanian soldiers who were martyred in 1967 in what is known as the Cemetery of the Martyrs and the Monument of the Unknown Soldier.
