By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH
At least 1,300 Palestinians from Jerusalem have been detained by the Israeli authorities since June, a Palestinian NGO said Sunday.
"We've seen a rise in the frequency of detentions since Israeli settlers killed Mohamed Abu Khdeer in Shuafat [East Jerusalem neighborhood]," said Mufeed al-Hajj, an attorney with the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, in a statement.
"About 40% of the detainees are minors", said al-Hajj
He also noted that most of the detainees are facing charges of involvement in clashes with Israeli police and hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails.
"Israeli courts usually ends up releasing the detainees on bail or after paying a fine," al-Hajj added
The attorney, yet, noted that the severity of sentences have changed, especially after the Israeli government proposed a bill that harshened the punishments of rock-throwers.
Tension has been running high in East Jerusalem since late last month, when Israel closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for hours after an extremist rabbi was injured in a west Jerusalem shooting.
The unrest mounted further when Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man suspected of shooting the rabbi in a raid on his East Jerusalem home.
Several Israeli parliamentarians have also forced their way into the mosque complex within the last few days, drawing the ire of Muslim worshippers and official condemnation from Arab and Muslim countries.
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.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
In September 2000, a visit to the site by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the "Second Intifada," a popular uprising against Israel's decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.
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