Palestine

12 May 2021; MEMO: Footage showing a young Palestinian woman smiling resliently after being beaten and handcuffed by Israeli soldiers has gone viral online.

Maryam Al-Afifi, who is a member of the Palestine Youth Orchestra, was arrested yesterday during a protest against the imminent forcible eviction of residents of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

12 May 2021; MEMO: Israel asked the United States not to intervene in the Jerusalem crisis or pressure Tel Aviv to stop the recent "escalation in violence" between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian civilians in Al-Aqsa Mosque, Axios reported on Monday.

12 May 2021; MEMO: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday cancelled the official Eid Al-Fitr celebrations "to mourn the Palestinian martyrs" killed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

12 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation warplanes targeted residential buildings in Gaza last night, leaving Palestinians homeless.

A 13-storey residential tower in western Gaza City collapsed after Israeli airstrikes targeted the building. There were no reports of casualties among the residents, who reportedly vacated the Hanadi tower before it was hit.

12 May 2021; MEMO: Head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem Archbishop Atallah Hanna hailed on Tuesday the victory of Palestinians in the battle to defend Jerusalem and the holy sites, Rai al Youm reported.

"During a tour around and inside Al Aqsa Mosque we met champions who do not accept to surrender to the status quo," he said.

He added: "These heroes insist on facing off the Zionist project and the dark occupation policies which are targeting them – Muslims and Christians."

12 May 2021; MEMO: If Israel continues to perpetrate crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, the Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, will respond and defend Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Gaza Strip, Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum has said.

The Palestinian people will "change the rules of engagement already imposed by the resistance in response to Israeli crimes and violations," he said in a statement.

11 May 2021; MEMO: Former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the brutal attack on Al-Aqsa to satisfy Jewish settlers and secure his position as premier.

In remarks to Anadolu, Sheikh Sabri said yesterday that Israeli occupation forces attacked Al-Aqsa Mosque, upon orders from Netanyahu, to satisfy the settlers, so that he would remain in the position of prime minister.

11 May 2021; MEMO: Father Manuel Musallam, head of the World Popular Organisation for Jerusalem Justice and Peace, yesterday called on Palestinian Christians to "donate to support Al-Aqsa Mosque" in Occupied Jerusalem.

"I repeat my call to the honourable clergy, the patriarchs, bishops, and priests to shoulder their responsibilities and strongly stand in the face of the occupation and its crimes," Musallam said in a statement.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza early Tuesday, hitting the high-rise home of a Hamas field commander and two border tunnels dug by militants, as Hamas and other armed groups fired dozens of rockets toward Israel. It was an escalation sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem.

10 May 2021; MEMO: The media office of the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip has criticised social media platforms for "censoring Palestinian content" during the current escalation in Jerusalem. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were mentioned specifically.

These platforms, it is alleged, are responsible for deleting Palestinian content and banning dozens of pro-Palestine accounts due to their coverage of events in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the unrest in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.