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Resisting
Dispossession in Jerusalem If you go half a kilometre north along the Nablus Road from St George’s Cathedral, you will see a tent where Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem are protesting against orders for their houses to be demolished. If you visit the tent, you will be given coffee and can learn about the eviction of Mohammed and Fawzi Al Kurd and their five children from the house the family has lived in since 1956. In 2001 settlers occupied part of their home. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the settlers to leave, but the order was never implemented. At 4 am on 9 November 2008, Israeli soldiers evicted the Al Kurds. The following day a tent was erected for them but the Israeli military have removed it and replacements -- the present one is the sixth. After years of opposing eviction, Mohammed Al Kurd died of a massive heart attack two weeks after being forced out of his home. Another 28 families in the area live under the threat of their homes being demolished to make way for 200 settlement units for Jews.
Jewish
settlers colonizing Sheikh Jarrah in Palestinian East Jerusalem
Map of Sheikh Jarrah showing areas already occupied and controlled by Jews (red and blue) or threatened with takeover
Many other
Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem are also under threat. The best
known is Silwan, just south of the Old City. There are demolition orders
on 88 Silwan properties which house 1500 Palestinian Jerusalemites who
inherited them from their parents and grandparents. Most were built before
Israel came into existence, and the land in this area has been owned by
Silwan families for hundreds of years.
The ethnic cleansing ( ‘Judaization’) of East Jerusalem is
being carried out by a combination of gerrymandering and terrorization of
the Palestinian population to get them to leave. Planning and zoning laws
are framed so as to favour Jewish expansion. A dozen armed settler groups
live in buildings erected illegally in Silwan. Another tactic being used
here is to declare areas to be archaeological sites which Palestinians are
prevented from entering by armed guards. Several settler homes have been
built on these sites.
Protest
tent in Silwan in front of some of the 88 properties threatened with
demolition
Not
only are Palestinians in East Jerusalem having their houses taken from
them, but a large and increasing amount of land round the periphery of
Jerusalem is being swallowed up by a ring of Jewish settlements. About 35%
of Palestinian land in Jerusalem has been stolen in their construction.
I went on a visit to one such settlement, Nof Zion, on a tour
organized by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Nof
Zion is on the edge of, but inside, Palestinian East Jerusalem. It is
classed as an ideological settlement because a number of Zionists
committed to taking over the houses and land belonging to Palestinians
will live here. Most of the 400 apartments are being sold to wealthy Jews
at present living in the US and France.
Hoarding
at the entrance to Nof Zion, a Jewish settlement being built on
Palestinaian land in East Jerusalem
Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was declared an
international entity to be controlled by the UN. In 1967 Israel took over
the whole city by force. According to international law, East Jerusalem is
occupied territory, so it is illegal for Israel to settle its own citizens
here. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which was ratified by Israel in 1952,
states that an “Occupying Power
shall not transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories
it occupies." Many UN resolutions have attested the
illegitimacy of Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the
ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem is continuing and accelerating.
In 1948, most of the property in West Jerusalem, and nearly all
that in East Jerusalem, belonged to Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
Since then most of it has been stolen from them, and the process is
intensifying. The theft of land and property from non-Jews in Israel and
Palestine are unacceptable: they are racist crimes which must stop. What
can those of us living outside Israel do? We can boycott Israeli goods,
cultural and sporting activities; we can persuade organizations to
disinvest from companies whose activities and products are involved in the
occupation of Palestinian areas and the oppression of Palestinians; and we
can press our MPs and MEPs to apply sanctions on Israel until it respects
United Nations resolutions and adheres to the norms of international
humanitarian law. Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Property 48 hours to 8am 8 May 2009 Details at: http://www.sapienspromise.org/modules/news/ Israeli Navy opens fire on fishing boats – takes crew prisoner Israeli Army shells Palestinian farmland Checkpoint troops beat up schoolchildren Israeli troops abduct two 15-year-olds and 2 boys aged 16 & 17 Israeli F-16s terrorise Gaza and Rafah 16 attacks – 53 raids – 17 beatings – 17 injuries 30 taken prisoner – 32 detained – 93 restrictions of movement Occupation troops beat up and tear gas non-violent protesters Israeli settler militants beat up Hebron Old City resident Aerial terror With the events of 9/11 in mind, the sight last week of Air Force One escorted by an F-16 fighter flying past the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan caused panic among office workers and concern among fire-fighters. Imagine, then, the terror of the people of Gaza City since Israel's operation 'Cast Lead' offensive as Israeli F-16s continue to terrorise the city with overflights and sonic booms.
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