![Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on July 9, 2023 [GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1515208883-scaled-e1691060874651.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday banned Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem's Silwan neighbourhood from holding ceremonies to celebrate students' exam results, WAFA News Agency reported.
Israeli occupation forces summoned the President of Silwan Club, Ahmad Ghoul, held and interrogated him for hours then ordered him not to hold the party in his club or face severe punishment.
![Ben-Gvir letter ordering exam party not to go ahead in Silwan [WAFA]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/20230802-Ben-Gvir-letter-ordering-exam-party-not-to-go-ahead-in-Silwan.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Ben-Gvir letter ordering exam party not to go ahead in Silwan [WAFA]
The order was issued by Ben-Gvir, who said in a letter that in his capacity as minister of internal security, he bans holding this celebration at Silwan Club or at any other place in Jerusalem or Israel. The letter added that the event was to be held yesterday by the Palestinian Authority and had not obtained prior permission from the occupation forces.
Prizes were due to be distributed to students who passed the general exams with high scores, a celebration held every year in occupied Jerusalem.
Israel has been restricting Palestinian events in occupied East Jerusalem under different pretexts, a step seen by the 350,000 residents of the occupied city as discriminatory and intended to cancel their presence in the city in favour of the illegal Jewish settlers.
The Israeli occupation authorities have closed the offices of dozens of Palestinian social organisations in the city claiming they are funded by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The 1993 Oslo Accords allows the opening of Palestinian offices in the occupied section of Jerusalem as well as an office for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and to hold events in the city. However, Israel later reneged on this agreement and closed the PLO office and all other Palestinian offices, including the Chamber of Commerce. It is currently targeting Palestinian schools in the city, barring them from teaching the Palestinian curriculum and textbooks and replacing them with Israeli-issued and distorted textbooks.
READ: Israel national security minister: 'Important' to arm settlers
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.
Spotted an error on this page? Let us know
