14th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, RamallahTeam | Beit Hanina, Occupied Palestine
On Monday, June 10, a group of fifty-three Palestinians living in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem received eviction orders from the Israeli authorities. These families have been living in Beit Hanina for over 40 years and for nearly the past 20 years have been fighting off repeated attempts by Israeli officials and soldiers trying to force them off their land. The eviction order, now effective, could be enforced at any time.
Ever since the Apartheid Wall was built around East Jerusalem, these people have been separated from family members, who live just on the other side of the Wall. To complicate matters even further, they have West Bank identification cards, although the Wall–which, in Beit Hanina, stretches outside the legal borders of East Jerusalem–separates them from the rest of the West Bank. Travel to Jerusalem, therefore, is illegal for them. And without a permit, travel to the West Bank means that they may not be allowed to come back through one of the many checkpoints separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
The residents of Beit Hanina will continue to resist the illegal occupation of their lands and eviction of their families to build illegal settlements.