Occupied Jerusalem- Jerusalemite activist Muhammad Abu Al-Humus has been keen to raise the Palestinian flag in the streets of Jerusalem for more than 13 years. Because of this, he has been arrested more than 160 times, during which he was subjected to interrogation and beatings.
Abu Al-Homs told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the idea of raising the Palestinian flag came when he saw runners in the Judaizing Marathon raising the Israeli flag, “and from there I decided to raise the Palestinian flag on every national occasion in the streets, neighborhoods and alleys of the occupied city of Jerusalem.”
The Israeli occupation government is seeking to pass a draft law that prevents the raising of the Palestinian flag in Israeli universities and institutions supported by them. This law will apply to institutions funded by the budget of the occupying state, including universities.
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On November 26, the Knesset General Assembly approved, in preliminary reading, with a majority of votes from the coalition, and with the government’s support, a draft law imposing “a full year in prison, or a fine of 10,000 shekels (about 2,700 dollars), or both penalties, on those who The Palestinian flag is raised in educational institutions or institutions that receive budgets and support from the state.”
According to the draft law, “if at least two people, or more, gather in an institution that receives budgets or support from the state, and raise the Palestinian flag, then this is an illegal gathering, and the penalty is one year in prison.”
Repeatedly, the occupation forces and its municipality crews storm the towns and alleys of the city of Jerusalem, remove the Palestinian flag and the flags of the various Palestinian factions, erase national slogans from the walls of villages, and remove and destroy memorials to the martyrs.
Abu Al-Homs adds: “The occupation forces attacked me countless times, in order to confiscate the flag, specifically in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Bab Al-Amoud, and the village of Al-Issawiya.”
Brutal assault
Abu Al-Homs continued, “I was resisting them when they attacked me and hiding the flag on my body so that they could not confiscate it…and if they were able to confiscate it, I would force them to seize the flag during the investigation process so that I could retrieve it,” adding, “The flag always accompanies me.”
He says, “When I was arrested for raising the flag, I was attacked with complete brutality and the flag was confiscated, and then they issued a decision to remove me from the area where I was raising the flag.”
The Jerusalemite activist recalls the most brutal attack on him by the occupation forces one day during the so-called “unification of Jerusalem” during the flag march. This attack resulted in fractures in his ribs that forced him to bed for several weeks.
Abu Al-Homs continues: “The occupation police claim every time I am arrested because of the knowledge that I have endangered people’s lives.”
The forced stop
Until now, the powers to prohibit the raising of the Palestinian flag are given to the Inspector General of the Israeli Police, as the powers authorize him to give instructions to police personnel to prevent the raising of the Palestinian flag in public places, if the flag constitutes a “symbol of disruption to public order,” according to the Al-Maqdisi activist.
Abu Al-Homs considers that raising the flag in the Palestinian villages of Jerusalem is “an expression of the Palestinian national identity that reinforces and confirms our existence and our right to freedom. These slogans, phrases and flags support the occupation, and he considers them incitement to it, and therefore they are working to erase them.”
He continues that since October 7, 2023, coinciding with the start of the aggression against Gaza, he has stopped raising the Palestinian flag to protect himself in light of the occupation’s activation of the emergency system, adding that “despite that, the occupation forces prevent me from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque and Old Jerusalem.” I am being forcefully removed from it.”
On the other hand, Abu Al-Homs explains, “After October 7, 2023, the occupation authorities spread and hung Israeli flags at the entrances to the city and its main streets in an attempt to regain their power and extend their control.”
Search for sovereignty
For his part, journalist and political analyst Rasem Obeidat says that the right-wing occupation government, by banning the raising of the Palestinian flag inside the occupying state in educational institutions, specifically those funded by the occupation government, “continues to rob the rights of the Palestinian people in the city of Jerusalem and the Palestinian interior.”
He added in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “The occupation government is pursuing the Palestinian flag, national slogans written on the walls, faction flags, and pictures of martyrs. It is pursuing and arresting individuals, and issuing malicious tickets to those whose walls have national slogans on their walls, if the wall belongs to a house or a grocery store.”
Obaidat continued, “The occupation is not only fighting the Palestinian flag in Jerusalem and the occupied interior, but the occupation army is now chasing young men in the West Bank and persecuting them if the Palestinian flag is raised.”
Obaidat continued, “The occupation is pursuing the flag and national slogans in order to impose sovereignty and control over the city and change the Arab-Islamic-Christian character into an artificial Talmudic-Biblical-Jewish city.”
He concluded by saying, “The occupation wants to make the Palestinian flag disappear from the Palestinian and Arab consciousness in order to achieve the exclusion of the Palestinian people. The presence of this Palestinian flag is an indication of the existence of another people who have rights to this land and are the owners of this land. Therefore, it must work to exclude this people and everything they symbolize.” “.