Dublin - Solidarity With Sheikh Jarrah Protest

On Sunday 8th of August, on a sunny day in Dublin, around 30 members and supporters of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered at the Spire on O'Connell Street to take part in the international day of solidarity with the people of Sheikh Jarrah.

Sheikh Jarrah is a Palestinian neighbourhood in Occupied East Jerusalem. Following the eviction of four Palestinian families from their homes in order to make room for Israeli colonial settlers last year, the local residents began a determined campaign of civil protest which has since become a symbol of opposition to the occupation of Palestine, and for Palestinian-Israeli cooperation against the occupation.

Sheikh Jarrah is home to 3,000 Palestinians, who recognise that the series of evictions will not stop until they are all dispossessed.

Speaking at the demonstration, IPSC Chairperson Freda Hughes said: "This August marks the first anniversary of the expulsion of the Ghawi and Hanoun families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. All over the world - including in 8 Israeli cities - humanitarian activists are marking this anniversary in an international show of solidarity with the dispossessed families. It is vital that expulsions and attempted colonisations like those in Sheikh Jarrah are stopped."

Ms Hughes continued: "The struggle in Sheikh Jarrah is a non-violent democratic struggle. Varied activities are carried in out protest against the colonial settlement enterprise: for the past six months weekly demonstrations involving hundreds of participants - Palestinian, Israeli and international - are being held every Friday afternoon on the outskirts of the neighbourhood. Protest marches are held in East and West Jerusalem and volunteers take shifts sleeping in the neighbourhood to support and protect the families from settler and state aggression."

Background

East Jerusalem was illegally annexed by Israel in 1967, and as such any Israeli expansion into the area is illegal under international law. East Jerusalem is also accepted internationally as the capital of a future Palestinian state, and ethnic cleansing such as we are seeing in Sheikh Jarrah represents part of the Israeli state's broader policy of preventing a viable Palestinian state from emerging by creating "irreversible facts on the ground".

Across the West Bank, other families are being expelled from their homes and cut off from their land only to see their land taken by armed Israeli colonial settlers and guarded by the Israeli military. A massive 720km Apartheid Wall is being built across the region which restricts the movements of ordinary Palestinians in carrying out everyday activities and steal a further 10% of Palestinian land.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - A Strategy to Help Defeat Israeli Apartheid

In 2005, Palestinian civil society called for an international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies fully with international law. As with the boycott of Apartheid South Africa, this campaign represents the most effective means for the international community to campaign for a just peace in the region. In the past five years BDS has grown to be an internationally recognised campaign endorsed by people of conscience the world over.

If you would like to find out more about this issue or Palestine in general, or get involved, please contact the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Dublin - Solidarity With Sheikh Jarrah Protest - 8/8/2010