14 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
ISM has been following the situation of the Al Kurd family from Sheikh Jarrah since 2009 and has kept a presence in the garden of their home.
On December 4th Nabil Al Kurd and his mother, accompanied by international and Israeli activists went to the Court of Magistrate in Jerusalem and sat in the courtroom. After 40 minutes of intense argument between the lawyer of the family and the lawyer representing the Jewish committee, the decision left the Al Kurd family with 2 options regarding their home.
The first option would involve paying rent from now in addition to the amount of “years of rent” and signing a paper stating that the Israeli government, being the owner of the land, would not need any kind of authorization if they decided to use the land. If the family refuses to fulfill the conditions of the first option, they would face the second option: the family would could be evicted at any time.
11 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
ISM has been following the situation of the Al Kurd family from Sheikh Jarrah since 2009 and has kept a presence in the garden of their home.
The Al Kurd family is of five other families targeted by these evications. The Fawziya Al Kurd family was evicted 9 November 2008. And the Ghawi and Hanoun families were evicted on 3 August 2009.
The Nabil Al Kurd family was evicted from one of their houses on 3 November 2009, and settlers finally moved in on 1 December 2009.
Illegal, Zionist settlers have decorated the Al Kurd home with Israeli flags.
On December 4th Nabil Al Kurd and his mother, accompanied by international and Israeli activists went to the Court of Magistrate in Jerusalem and sat in the courtroom. After 40 minutes of intense argument between the lawyer of the family and the lawyer representing the Jewish committee, the decision left the Al Kurd family with 2 options regarding their home.
The first option would involve paying rent from now in addition to the amount of “years of rent” and signing a paper stating that the Israeli government, being the owner of the land, would not need any kind of authorization if they decided to use the land. If the family refuses to fulfill the conditions of the first option, they would face the second option: the family would could be evicted at any time.
The judge gave them 30 days from the time of the court hearing to decide which option they want to follow. By choosing the first option the family that lives in this house since 1959 and were declared owners of their home by UNRWA, would handover their ownership to the Zionist community. The second option means giving up any little hope left to keep their house.
A Zionist settler occupying a home in Sheikh Jarrah
UNRWA recognized the house as property of the Al Kurd family and owners of the land on which it is built. However, Zionist organizations, with the support of the Israeli legal system are trying to colonize Sheikh Jarrah and what is left of East Jerusalem. The Israeli government continues its goal of judaization (and de-arabization) by openly exercising ethnic cleansing: that is, they wish to gain more land with as little arabs as possible.
Activists from all over the world have established a nightly presence in sheikh Jarah to protect the family from settlers attacks but also to show support and solidarity to all Palestinians living in Sheikh Jarrah.
Samar and Meriem are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
On Wednesday 23 December at 11.30pm, as every other night, settlers began to circulate in the street between the occupied Gawi house and the half-occupied al-Kurd house in Sheikh Jarrah. After about an hour of general harassment of the Palestinian families living in the neighbourhood since 1956, the settlers increased their aggression and started throwing fruit at the people who sat in front of the Kurd family house to protect it from further invasions. Two settlers started making graffiti and sprayed over Palestinian flags painted on the wall of the al-Kurd backyard, while the rest pushed and cursed the Palestinians and internationals, who verbally tried to make them stop. A solidarity activist filming the episode was spray-painted in the face numerous times. Three border policemen stood next by and watched without interfering for the whole duration of the attack.
During the Christmas celebration in Sheikh Jarrah, children from the neighborhood painted Palestinian flags on the al-Kurd wall to cover the stars of David the settlers had painted days earlier. The Israeli police came within 3 minutes and stopped them. The settlers living in the occupied Gawi house, reacted by adding another 3 Israeli flags in addition to the 8 big ones and 18 small ones that they have already plastered outside the stolen house.
The settlers started their nightly harassment campaign by trying to reach the Christmas tree but were prevented from reaching it by the Israeli border police, who have a 24 hour presence in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. After about half an hour, the settlers seemed to have dropped their original plans and started verbally harassing the Palestinians and the internationals; who were awake in order to protect Gawi family members, as well as the al-Kurds, who had half of their house stolen by settlers and have been forced to share their backyard with them. The settlers were particularly focused on an elderly man and an international woman. They called the man by his name and kept at cursing him while they sexual harassed the woman by sign language, touching their own bodies and making kissing sounds.
At around 12.30 the settlers, started making graffiti on the wall of the al-Kurd family house, painting over the Palestinian flags and writing ‘death to Arabs’ in Hebrew. They further increased the violence, pushed the Palestinians and spray-painted the international woman who filmed the episode in the face. The border police observed the aggressive behavior but did not interfere and only phoned the police about half an hour later when it had already been called from by the attacked several times.
The police finally arrived, around 1.30am, and promised to arrest the settlers responsible for the attack, but even when they were shown the film and told where the settlers ran to hide, they refused going there. Instead they went into the occupied part of the al-Kurd house and took one settler, who wore a ski mask while painting, with them to the police station. He returned after 20 minutes because there were no evidence that he had taken part in the actions.
The Palestinians in the neighborhood will go to the Israeli police and file a complaint about the poor intervention of the police, as well as try to encourage them to arrest the settler whose face is shown in the video. Three days ago a Palestinian man was held at the police station for 24 hours for encouraging the children in the neighborhood to paint over offensive graffiti painted by the settlers on the same wall. The Palestinians only ask to have equal law rights in occupied East Jerusalem, where even the rights to live in their houses have been denied.
Another settler attack on a family in Sheikh Jarrah on Monday 21 December leaves the family with two broken windows and fear of future attacks.
After dark on Monday 21 December 2009 a group of around 40 settlers gathered outside the Ftyaney family house. At about 7pm the settlers began throwing stones at the windows of the Ftyaney home. They then threatened the mother of the family who was at home with her three daughters.
The Ftyaney family lives in a house directly beneath the garden of the house of Fawzia and Muhammed al-Kurd which is now occupied by Israeli settlers. On Monday evening Rema, the mother of the family, heard stones striking her front gate and she rushed to the door only to realize that 40 settlers were attacking the house. When the settlers saw her in the door they started to scream at her that she should bring out her sons. No men were present in the house since the father of the family was at work. Rema called the Israeli police. They keep a 24 hour presence in the neighbourhood, but still took 15 minutes to arrive. When Rema talked to the police the settlers shouted at them, “don’t talk to the woman!”
One of Rema’s daughters was too afraid to sleep after the attack. The family has been attacked several times, the last time a month ago and Rema explained that it is not unusual; there are Palestinians being attacked by settlers every day in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Fawzia and Muhammed al-Kurd were evicted from their home in Sheikh Jarrah on 8 November 2008. Since the eviction, settlers have moved into their home and the violence against the Palestinian residence in the neighbourhood has increased. At least two other attacks on Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah have taken place in the past five days. On Friday a mother of six was violently attacked in the street outside her home. When her sons came to her assistance the settlers threw stones at them and injured two. They had to be taken to the hospital. On Sunday a little girl was attacked in the street by a settler. Palestinians living in Sheikh Jarrah are also subject to other forms of harassment from settlers. Garbage and stones are regularly thrown down in the garden of the Ftyaney family from the occupied house of the al-Kurds.
The displacements in Karm Al-Ja’ouni (where the Ftyaney family lives) are part of a larger settlement project. Areas targeted in Sheikh Jarrah include Kubanyat Im Haroun, the Shepherd Hotel, Karm el-Mufti and the Planned Amana HQ. Other Palestinian neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem that are affected by settlement expansion include Silwan and the Mount of Olives. The United Nations already raised concerns about the humanitarian consequences of the illegal settlements in Sheikh Jarrah in August 2009. The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called for the immediate end to forced evictions and house demolitions and the displacement of Palestinian communities.
Despite these attacks, residents of Sheikh Jarrah continue to support each other. On Wednesday 23 residents will have a Christmas dinner in the neighbourhood. On Friday, a regular demonstration against ethnic cleansing and house evictions will start at 2pm in Sheikh Jarrah.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd with Refka al-Kurd
Israeli police ordered outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd to leave an East Jerusalem home on Thursday during her last official visit as the head of the relief agency.
Ma’an’s reporter on the scene said AbuZayd left after police gave her five minutes to evacuate the premises of the house of the Al-Kurd family, as a Palestinian woman yelled “We want our homes and our lands. We have no alternative.”
Amidst Israeli police and soldiers, AbuZayd visited Palestinians recently evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem on International Human Rights Day. She spoke of Jerusalem as a “City of Dispossession,”
“On this day, and in this place, I wish to remind the international community of the unfinished business in Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere in the West Bank,” she said.
“The dispossessed, the displaced must see their losses acknowledged, their injustices addressed,” she added. “Peace is possible, but only if we insist on our universal humanity.”
Members of the Al-Kurd family, who are fighting a court battle to keep their home from being taken over by Israeli settlers, told her, “What are we to do? International Law should have helped us.” As she spoke, settler watched nearby.
During a news conference before entering the Al-Kurd house, AbuZayd said, “As a colleague of mine said, we have ‘failed with distinction’ … I am leaving reluctantly, at a time of greater political uncertainty than at any time I’ve been here in nine years and at a greater time of economic and financial difficulties.”
“While the international community is committed to the goal of establishing two states, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, it is difficult to imagine how that outcome can be achieved in light of the systematic settlement activity and violations of basic human rights currently afflicting the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem.
“The impact of this urban settlement activity being conducted with seeming impunity is manifold and acute,” AbuZayd continued. “The intimate juxtaposition of two cultures, such as exists in the building behind me, with its accompanying violence and tension, destroyed the communal atmosphere that has evolved over decades.”
UN condemnation of forced evictions
AbuZayd reaffirmed the UN’s condemnation of the ongoing Israeli policy of forced evictions of Palestinians and house demolitions. “The UN rejects Israel’s claims that these cases are a matter for municipal authorities and domestic courts. Such acts are in violation of Israel’s obligations under international law.”
“To date, four of the 28 families have lost their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, affecting over 55 people including 20 children. At present, a further eight families are under direct threat of forced eviction, having been served with orders to vacate their homes, potentialy affected another 120 people. In all incidents to date, settlers have taken over with the active protection and assistance of the Israeli authorities. But the numbers don’t speak to the human suffering and trauma that has been the unfortunate hallmark of these forced evictions.”
Plight of the Bedouin
During her final speech in Sheikh Jarrah, AbuZayd took the opportunity to speak of the ongoing displacement of the Bedouin across the West Bank. “On International Human Right day, I would also like to highlight the plight of one of the most disadvantaged groups in this region, the bedouins of the West Bank.”
“As the occupying power, Israel remains responsible for ensuring that the basic needs of the occupied population are met. But many refugee Bedouin and herding communities, originally displaced from their traditional lands in 1948, are now experiencing multiple counts of displacement from area C as they are forcibly moved from their homes.”
“These groups are now sinking deeper into food insecurity and abject poverty, as grazing land continues to shrink and access to natural resources is severely restricted by the occupying power. Administrative demolition, forced evictions, collapsing livelihoods, poverty and settler harassment represent the key triggers to displacement for area C herding communities today and they’re already stretched coping mechanism are now reaching their limits. They’re full rights must be respected as a matter of utmost urgency.”
Human Rights Day
“It is … fitting that on my last official visit to Jerusalem as UNRWA Commissioner General, and on International Human Rights Day, I should come to the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of the city, where the failure of the international community to fulfill the promises of the Universal Declaration is so acutely felt and where the pain and ugliness of dispossession and occupation are so tragically in evidence.”
Israeli army soldiers were also on the scene, the reporter added. The forces also dispersed journalists from the area. AbuZayd had the brief opportunity to speak with Maher Ghawi, another Jerusalemite affected by Israel’s forced eviction policy.
Full text of Karen AbuZayd’s speech can be found here.
