International Day Of Actions Against House Evictions And Demolitions In Palestine

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Monday June 08, 2009 04:56

by Free Palestine!

sheikh.jarrah at hotmail dot co dot uk

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTIONS AGAINST HOUSE EVICTIONS AND DEMOLITIONS IN PALESTINE
- Monday 13th July 2009
THE COMMUNITY OF SHEIKH JARRAH CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

**please distribute widely***

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTIONS AGAINST HOUSE EVICTIONS AND DEMOLITIONS IN PALESTINE
- Monday 13th July 2009
THE COMMUNITY OF SHEIKH JARRAH CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

SET UP TENTS OUTSIDE ISRAELI EMBASSIES WORLDWIDE IN SOLIDARITY WITH NEIGHBOURHOODS OF OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM

Tents have become a powerful symbol of the struggle of Palestinian people living in occupied East Jerusalem. They have been set up as centres of protest in neighbourhoods threatened by numerous eviction and demolition orders, part of Israel's wider policy to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem of its Palestinian population. Ultimately this would destroy any hope of East Jerusalem becoming the capital of a future Palestinian state. A number of the tents, notably the one in Sheikh Jarrah, have been built by Palestinian residents forcibly evicted from their homes as a result of Israel's racist policy. Palestinians, who became refugees in 1948 & 1967 are, once again, facing dispossession from their homes and land as our governments stand by and do nothing.

The neighbourhoods most severely affected are Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras Khamiis, Al Tur and Sur Beher however house evictions and demolitions are not uncommon in the Old City itself. In Silwan, 88 homes in the al Bustan quarter are facing immediate destruction in order to create space for a planned national park. In addition, two apartment buildings housing 34 families in the adjacent al Abbasiyya quarter have also received demolition orders. When completed, up to 2,000 Palestinians will be uprooted from their homes.

The local communities are calling for international activists to organise symbolic protests and set up tents outside of Israeli embassies or Zionist organisations worldwide to stand in solidarity with the protest tents in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras Khamiis, Al Tur and Sur Beher.

THE CASE OF SHEIKH JARRAH
The neighbourhood consists of 28 families, and is facing a number of eviction orders which are part of a plan to implant a new Jewish settlement in the area, close to the Old City. After the Al kurd family has been forcibly removed from their home in November 2008, it is now the turn of the al-Ghawe and Hannoun families to face imminent eviction, while others are awaiting further eviction orders.

The families have gone through 37 years of legal battles, fighting for the right to stay in their houses where many of them have been born and which they legally own. To date, the Israeli courts, including the High Court, decided in favour of the Jewish settler organisations, which claim the ownership of the land based on falsified documents. The courts have not only ignored all the documents produced by the Sheikh Jarrah community which clearly prove their legal status and the ownership of the land, they have also shown that their decisions are not based on law and justice, but are clearly political decisions, serving the goal of cleansing the Palestinian people from Jerusalem.

The latest court hearing, held on the 17th May, ordered the families to sign a guarantee for 50,000 NIS and present a further guarantee for $50,000 from the bank. The court has ruled for this money to be taken if the families refuse to hand in their keys and leave their houses voluntarily by noon on the 19th July. After this date, the settler organisations have permission to enter the houses and the fathers of the families will be sent to prison, charged with contempt of court.
Now that all legal avenues have been exhausted, the families last hope is that media attention & international pressure can help stop the evictions taking place

Maher Hannoun, resident from Sheikh Jarrah faced by imminent eviction order and imprisonment, said:
As refugees and people living under occupation, we are asking people to help us with our struggle for our rights. It is unbelievable that in the 21st century, Israel's authorities can get away with demolishing the homes of Palestinians in order to build settlements or national parks. The price we and our neighbours have to pay is too high, we are faced with two impossible choices - either we throw our kids out on the street or we go to prison. If we lose our homes, there is nowhere else for us to go, the only option we have is to live in tents.
International solidarity gives us more power and strength to continue in our struggle and stay in our homes. We need support from people around the world to let everybody know about our story and pressure their goverments to help stop this racist policy of house evictions and demolitions.

What you can do - suggestions for further actions:
- Contact your MPs and other political representatives to tell them about this story. Ask them to raise the issue of East Jerusalem in the Parliament and Government meetings and put diplomatic pressure on the Israeli authorities.
- Contact media representatives in your countries and ask them to cover the story of Sheikh Jarrah and the ongoing ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem.
- Organise demonstrations, talks, film nights or photo exhibitions in your countries. Email sheikh.jarrah@hotmail.co.uk to receive updates, tell us about your ideas for actions, events and the co-ordination of an international day of actions.
-Set up a contigency plan with your organization or affinity group in the event that these evictions are carried out or Maher Hannoun is arrested. Send your email to Sheikh.jarrah@hotmail.co.uk to recieve alerts and co-ordinate your actions.
We ask for people to stand in solidarity with the residents of Sheikh Jarrah and support their fight for justice.
If you would like to find out more contact Eva on 054 344 2512 (011-972-54-344-2512) or Liam 054 992 6354 (outside Palestine 011-972-54-992-6354)

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Comments (4 of 4)

Possibly true, but odd

by Mike Novack

Mon Jun 08, 2009 13:07

"To date, the Israeli courts, including the High Court, decided in favour of the Jewish settler organisations, which claim the ownership of the land based on falsified documents. The courts have not only ignored all the documents produced by the Sheikh Jarrah community which clearly prove their legal status and the ownership of the land, they have also shown that their decisions are not based on law and justice, but are clearly political decisions, serving the goal of cleansing the Palestinian people from Jerusalem."

That's not the USUAL problem over there. Generally IF a case is taken to the israeli courts it gets heard and judged fairly. The problem is almost always with getting a ruling in favor of the Palestinian side enforced. The problem isn't (not usually) court decisions being determined by politics but politics causing court decisions to be ignored. The court has no armed might to enforce its will. Not entirely unlike the situation here in the US (* examples from history). In other words, it isn't clear whom to believe about whose documents were falsified. Given that the Israeli court system frequently decides these land ownership cases in favor of the Palestinians we can't assume that this case was decided unfairly based on the evidence presented to the court. Show us the facts maybe?

* In the early 19th Century (and these closer to the Palestinain situation) the Cherokees won in the court s -- but that didn't save them. Following that the court usually bowed to politics in the sense of attempting to duck having to make decisions it could not get enforced. But "Dred Scott" led to the Civil War (could easily have been ducked but Taney wanted to rule on the overall constituionality of the "Missouri Compromise". In the 20th Century much has been made of the wording "with deliverate (ie: slow) speed" in Brown vs Board of Ed declaring "separate but equal" inherently unconstitutional. In other words, in recognition that the court lacked the power to enforce immediate action to end segregation.

Ever thought?

by Frank Adam - privatecitizen

Sun Jun 14, 2009 21:11

Have you ever thought that if instead of maintaining a state of war which is expensive and unproductive, Jordan and Egypt let alone the Syrians had made peace in the 50's all the property claims could have been exchanged and the Six Day War & the occupation since would not have happened?

In the end Egypt got nothing that it could not have had in 1950 and lost Gaza as well, but... Even more so for Jordan. I remember as a witness that before 1968 even Col Nasser only referred to "Arab Refugees" NOT Palestinians! ie Palestine nationalism was faked up and mucked up in and since 1968 to make a peace as difficult as possible - and do down Jordan as well.

If Israel can live with 20% Arab minority, then Palestine can live with 20% Jewish minority, which is why the whole settlement fuss is red herring especially as assorted bedouin have created more than a few villages in Israel as their numbers increased and cramped nomadism out of practicality.

The real problem is that Jewish independence gets up Arab noses out of vanity and religious bigotry and they should be told to put up and shut up as much as the European states have had to turn over and carry on with the rest of their lives despite the WW II losses and the dismantling of empires. Let me tell you a greatsecret - the Arab World was also created imperialistically.

Benjamín Netanyahu "replies" to Obama's El Cairo speech

by hmmmmmmmm

Sun Jun 14, 2009 23:32

It's taken the Israeli's a while to offer a speech perhaps knowing that since Golda Meir they haven't counted on any orators of the calibre to square a riposte to Obama.

Or maybe just they timed it to coincide with the Iranian elections?

anyway -

Netanyahu used several of the key phrases and words which Obama had - this is generally seen as very important in diplomatic circles & then qualified that the Palestinian state his kind of Israel could live with (????) would have to be :- demilitarised

That is a humongous word in its implications. Not that you'd need to waste much time pondering implications because not many people looking at the telly from either of the Palestinian areas of the west bank or gaza or beyond in their camps in Jordan or diasporia worldwide really think demilitarisation is much of a realisable option. Alas, western media has moved to interprete the humongous word (with quite horrid historical and international legal precedents - lest I bore you simply consider the Ruhr and Saar of post WW1 Germany or that little strip of land between North and South Korea) as meaning a future Palestine state would not be allowed have an army.

Oh I think of Golda Meir, and how she raised all that money to provide the zionists with an army before they had a state and the legal status needed to import arms............

"if you don't like the telly just flick the channel" - don't lose weight over it.

What for ?

Tue Jun 16, 2009 19:31

Given that ex-Jordanian West Bank and Gaza Strip turn themselves into a state cosily at peace with Jordan and Israel, between Jordan keeping Syria and Iraq away, and Israel keepng Syria and Egypt away, what would an Arab state in Palestine need an army for beyond a riot squad; border / customs guard against smugglers; and a guard company for the president and parliament??

As those who tell Israel to get out of Gaza, Hebron and Nablus Districts would not the peace itself be the security? So why and against whom an army?

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International Day Of Actions Against House Evictions And Demolitions In Palestine

Comments (4 of 4)