​PA Chairman Abu Mazen annouced the forced retirement of thousands of officers of the PA security forces - i.e, Fatah - many of whom are terrorists and other prisoners released from Israeli prisons.

Widespread calls have been heard again this year for Jerusalem Muslims to oppose such attempts of Jewish "Temple Mount" organizations. On one of the pictures disseminated on social media appears the following captions: "Settlers launch calls to offer sacrifices in Al-Aqsa".

Najah Bakhirat, the deputy chief of the Jordanian WAQF in Jerusalem who was expelled from the city in JUNE 2023, is back. During the month of Ramadan, Bakhirat, who has ties with Hamas, was photographed sitting outside a Jerusalem mosque during prayers. One of the wealthier residents of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher, he and his family own several buildings and properties there.

The annual Islamic custom of Itikaf continues to be in the news this week. The custom requires Muslims to remain in a mosque, particularly atop the Temple Mount, for a full night or more during Ramadan.

UNRWA is outlawed in Israel, but has it stopped working? It does not seem so. According to various reports, the offices and schools in Jerusalem continue to operate as they did before, exept that some UNRWA sings have been removed or replaced. The schools are open, and the pupils are at their dasks. In the wake of reports that the schools were closed down, the principals received instructions from the PA's education authority in Ramallah not to deny the reports in the media, but simply continue working as uausal beneath the media radar.

Social media have resumed circulating in recent days the "incitement video" of the Islamist preacher from Sur Baher (eastern Jerusalem), Assam Amira. He is the leader of the Jerusalem branch of Hizb a-Tahrir - an international Islamist fundamentalist organization that aims to re- establish the Islamic caliphate. The recirculation of the video is apparently a response to his recent sentencing to nearly three years in prison, after he was found guilty of incitement.

It was reported this week that some Arab bus lines in eastern Jerusalem were "striking." The drivers and/or their bosses are apparently protesting the stricter policies that have been put into effect at the security-barrier crossings, between the neighborhoods "behind" the barrier and the rest of the city. Many workers – not only drivers, but also sanitation employees and others – have complained of increased waiting times, even up to three hours, at the crossings. 2.Tik-Tok videos have been disseminated encouraging workers not to come to work, in protest. Some of the videos feature one or more spokesmen for the "Committees" – which is actually one local neighborhood committee that represents the residents vis-à-vis the city authorities. The "Committees" often refer to official PA or Fatah committees that are officially active in the city. 3.We have reported here on the economic downturn in the Old City of recent months. One reason that businesses have been harmed is, to a certain extent, that many employees provide their employers with incorrect residential addresses, particularly in the Old City and surrounding areas. They do this in order to avoid harming their chances of being hired, if employers find out that the applicants live behind the security barrier. The employers are apparently wary of precisely the delays mentioned above, which occur when security dangers increase, leading to longer delays at the crossings.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) – an official Turkish aid organization with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – has not only been active in Jerusalem these past two years, despite the subversive nature of its work, but is also active in Gaza. In addition to activating other forces in the area, it has built a hospital in Gaza City, which was actually vacant for several years because of an apparent dispute with Hamas. TIKA's main office here is in Ramallah, from where it runs its Jerusalem activities some 20 kilometers to the south.- an international Islamist fundamentalist organization that aims to re- establish the Islamic caliphate. The recirculation of the video is apparently a response to his recent sentencing to nearly three years in prison, after he was found guilty of incitement.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) – an official Turkish aid organization with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – has not only been active in Jerusalem these past two years, despite the subversive nature of its work, but is also active in Gaza. In addition to activating other forces in the area, it has built a hospital in Gaza City, which was actually vacant for several years because of an apparent dispute with Hamas. TIKA's main office here is in Ramallah, from where it runs its Jerusalem activities some 20 kilometers to the south.

As is known, various bodies, such as the Palestinian Authority and Islamist extremists, pressured churches to "tone down" their commemorations of the Christian holidays in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem. At the same time, in a non-unrelated development, the Arab shopkeepers of the Old City continue to suffer from the severe decline in visitors and customers to their stores. This is all the more true for storekeepers dependent on tourists, both internal and from abroad. Not only has the war kept many tourists away, but there has been an ongoing and increasingly prevalent phenomenon by which Arab Jerusalem residents stay away from the shops of the Old City in general. Younger residents do not frequent these stores, which they view as outdated and old-fashioned, and choose to shop in modern stores and malls – and not only in the Arab sections. As far as the older residents are concerned, their consumer power is becoming increasingly irrelevant…