Afrasianet - The issues of Judaization of occupied Jerusalem are intertwined and intensified in very complex forms, so that the various arms of the occupation do not leave an inch of this city without being targeted by an institution, organization or plan, in a frantic effort to change the reality of the occupied city, falsify its history, and what is related to the cultural, artistic, urban and civilizational spirit of this city, using various means and means, most notably the huge festivals organized in occupied Jerusalem.

In parallel with the prohibition of Palestinian cultural events in occupied Jerusalem, and the suppression of any popular efforts in this regard, the occupation authorities and their arms are holding a number of major Judaization events, taking culture, arts, food and others as a cover for this deliberate falsification, most of which are concentrated in the summer, and through which they target a number of the city's historical and archaeological landmarks, and we highlight in this article a number of these festivals, including the "Jerusalem International Film Festival, Al-Anwar, Auto Food, Sheesh Bish", and others.

The most prominent festivals held by the arms of the occupation

The two parts of occupied Jerusalem witness a large number of festivals, and in the following models we focus on festivals that are held in whole or in part in the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem, through which the arms of the occupation target some of the landmarks of Jerusalem:

1- Jerusalem International Film Festival:

It is an international festival held in occupied Jerusalem annually, and is the most prominent film festival organized in the occupied territories, and is usually held in July of each year, and its activities start at one of the archaeological sites in occupied Jerusalem, the "Sultan's Pools".

The participating films, whether Israeli or foreign, are screened at this archaeological site and in galleries and halls in the western part of occupied Jerusalem, in addition to organizing lectures, seminars and workshops for the settler public, and the film that won the Volgin Prize for Israeli Cinema – the most prominent prize of the festival – is screened in an open space.

The 2025 edition of the festival will take place from July 17 to 26. In 2024, coinciding with the genocide in the Gaza Strip, the festival organizers announced the participation of about 70,000 settlers in its activities.

2- Israel Culture Festival:

It is one of the most prominent and diverse cultural festivals in the occupied territories in general, and in Jerusalem in particular, and is held in the spring of each year and extends for several weeks and its activities are concentrated in the western part of occupied Jerusalem.

Its activities began in 1961 in the occupied city of Caesarea, then moved to occupied Jerusalem in 1982, in parallel with the diversity of the fields of interest of this festival, which included folk dance, acting, jazz, plastic arts, in addition to lectures by experts in arts and culture, and Israeli and international artistic groups present dance and singing performances in a number of places in the western part of occupied Jerusalem.

3- Autofood Festival:

One of the summer festivals in occupied Jerusalem, and aims to attract tourists to the Judaization events in the city, and is held in the Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the festival includes a food complex, platforms for concerts, kiosks for selling and drinking alcohol, mobile cafes, and activities for adults and children, as the occupation municipality has been promoting this festival for years with the aim of attracting thousands of settlers from Jerusalem and abroad.

4- Festival of Lights in Jerusalem:

A Judaization art festival organized in the two parts of occupied Jerusalem, and concentrated in the Old City, and the occupation authorities consider it the most prominent festival that attracts tourists, and the Old City turns into dance and singing halls and noisy artistic performances that distort the centrality of the Old City and its location, and is based on a number of official bodies, including the occupation municipality, the Jerusalem Development Authority, and the Jerusalem and Heritage Office.

The festival is held annually in the summer, and its activities are concentrated during the night hours from after sunset until late, during which huge lights, laser shows and sound effects are used, to display models and art forms and the reflections of these shows on archaeological sites in occupied Jerusalem, in addition to organizing noisy night concerts, free trails and group tours. These light shows are linked to the occupation's narrative about Jerusalem and other Judaizing elements.

The activities of the Judaization festival target a number of holy and archaeological sites in the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem, namely the entrance area of the occupied Western Wall, the square of the Umayyad palaces area south and west of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Damascus Gate area, in addition to lighting the historic wall of Jerusalem, the Jaffa Gate Square passing through Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Square, the Armenian Quarter, the Honor Quarter and the Christian Quarter, all the way to the Damascus Gate, the Solomon Cave and Jaffa Street.

Regarding the name of the festival, the occupation arms use the Jewish holiday of "lights" to constitute an additional platform to target the identity of the city, under the cover of celebrating this holiday, during which the occupation arms deploy large numbers of "candlesticks" in the two parts of occupied Jerusalem, and the occupation municipality erects huge candlesticks illuminated in the occupied Western Wall square, and in other areas inside and outside the Old City.

These arms decorate public squares and streets surrounding the lights, especially in the western part of occupied Jerusalem, and in neighborhoods that witness a heavy settlement presence in the eastern part of the city.

5- "Sheesh Beach" Festival:

It is a natural event held by the occupation municipality in the Bab al-Jadeed area, and imposed by the occupation municipality annually in the middle of Jerusalemites' shops and shops and near the ancient walls of Jerusalem, and the event includes a championship in the game of "shish beach" -dice-, through which the occupation arms seek to participate in it alongside the settlers, in the context of attempts to transform the settlement presence into a natural, and the festival includes musical events usually attended by settlers.

6- Liquor Festival at the historic Mamillah cemetery:

In 2016, Palestinian sources revealed the intention of a number of Israeli companies to organize a liquor festival on the land of the historic Islamic cemetery of Mamillah in occupied Jerusalem, under the auspices of the occupation municipality at the time, and many types of local and international wines were displayed in the festival, in conjunction with a number of loud concerts, and the largest Israeli restaurants and bars participated in the festival.

Places targeted by these festivals

The aforementioned data show that a number of Israeli festivals are concentrated in a number of archaeological sites in occupied Jerusalem, and some of them are even organized near the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque and on some historical Islamic cemeteries, but some of these Israeli festivals take archaeological sites as main platforms for their activities, and to conclude their activities, and of course in sites that have intense Islamic symbolism, and among these targeted sites, "Sultan's Pools" emerge as one of the archaeological sites that are distorted annually through the activities of the "Jerusalem International Film Festival".

Some of these festivals are close to Al-Aqsa Mosque, such as the "Autofood" festival in the Wadi Al-Rababa neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, targeting an area with high historical and religious symbolism, and the Festival of Lights, which focuses in its light shows on the walls of occupied Jerusalem, and takes the Old City as a stage for its light and artistic performances, in a crude promotion of the narrative of the occupation and its symbolism, on a huge group of Arab and Islamic landmarks, such as the square of the Umayyad palaces area south and west of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Damascus Gate area, and others.

There is no doubt that the choice of these places is not absurd and is clearly consistent with other occupation policies aimed at imposing occupation control over large parts of occupied Jerusalem and distorting these authentic historical monuments.

These practices confirm that festivals are nothing but an attempt by the occupation arms to take advantage of the cultural and artistic cover to Judaize these monuments linked to the history and reality of Jerusalem, in the context of a systematic and gradual policy to reshape the identity of Jerusalem in the context of the protracted conflict between the emergency Jew and the authentic Arab-Islamic.

Support for these festivals

The detailed data of these festivals reveal that official Israeli bodies are behind them, such as the occupation municipality, the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Jerusalem and Heritage Office, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and others.

In a context related to funding, the data of the Jerusalem Post newspaper in 2006, before the organization of the 45th edition of the festival, revealed the sources of funding for the "Israel Festival" for culture, during which it revealed that the sponsoring institutions of the festival provided about 2.5 million shekels, in addition to 3.5 million shekels provided by the Ministry of Culture in the occupation government, and the list of supporters of the festival includes a number of banks whose amounts ranged between 100,000 and 250,000 shekels, and the list of support included half a million shekels provided by the municipality Occupation in Jerusalem.

Financial support does not stop at direct support for the festival, but includes preparing the infrastructure for the place where it is held, and if it is held in an archaeological site, these projects become of several dimensions, including the Judaization of the area and opening the way for more settlers and foreign tourists to participate in these events. An example of these projects is what the occupation municipality announced in Jerusalem on 27/12/2022, in the context of targeting the Sultan's archaeological pool, in cooperation with  the "Jerusalem Fund Foundation" and the Antiquities, Nature and Parks Authority.

These Judaization arms allocated a huge budget of about 100 million shekels (about 30 million US dollars at the time), which will include increasing the number of seats in the theater amphitheater that was erected in the place of the pool, to accommodate 7,000 people, in addition to the establishment of a café, a garden and an environmental pond, turning the site of the pond, according to the municipality, into "the most beautiful area for concerts and nightlife in Israel."

Extrapolating implications

These huge events are not limited to the purpose of entertainment only, but also use the heavy public attendance and the messages carried by these festivals, leading to their sites as continuous attempts by the occupation to change the cultural landscape of occupied Jerusalem and its authentic historical narrative, and to falsify the reality of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem, and it is important to focus on a number of its implications, namely: 

•    Blurring the Palestinian identity and highlighting the Israeli narrative by employing cultural and artistic events to rebuild the cultural scene of occupied Jerusalem, and the related attempts to present the occupied city as the capital of the occupying state at the cultural and artistic levels, in parallel with attempts to establish it as the political and administrative capital of the occupying state.

In return for this large number of events, the occupation arms are working to prevent the organization of Palestinian events, suppress any Palestinian cultural activity in the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem, and even close civil institutions with intellectual and cultural goals, in an attempt to end any Palestinian attempt to revive the cultural situation in the eastern part of Jerusalem.

•    Faking Jerusalem's historical and archaeological monuments, distorting the symbolism of these sites, changing their historical function, and preventing Palestinians from approaching or visiting them.

•    Strengthening the infrastructure for settlement activities, under the pretext of festivals or holding major events, etc., is a long-term cultural targeting, which makes this structure a cover that hides the true treasures of Jerusalem.

•    Strengthening the settlement presence in the eastern part of Jerusalem, by attracting settlers to this part, and a large part of these events were concentrated in this part.

•    Re-export the Israeli narrative, in every Judaization activity carried out by the occupation arms, and promote Jewish and Zionist symbols, connotations and ideas, at the expense of the authentic narrative, and the associated general situation related to adornment and security, and the stifling of Palestinian lives to organize such mega events. 

Ali Ibrahim - Researcher in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa affairs, specializing in history