Tag: Jerusalem - Page 39 - International Solidarity Movement

A protest vigil will be held in Sheikh Jarrah following a settler takeover of a Palestinian home

For Immediate Release:

Settlers occupy the al-Kurd home in Sheikh Jarrah

Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 7pm: A protest vigil will be held outside the al-Kurd home in Sheikh Jarrah.

Following a settler takeover of a Palestinian home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the al-Kurd family and international and Israeli solidarity groups will hold a vigil.

Israeli settlers take over Palestinian home

Tuesday morning at around 9.30am, a group of settlers took over a portion of the al-Kurd family home. The 40 settlers, accompanied by private armed security and Israeli police forces, entered a section of the home, threw out the family’s belongings and locked themselves in.

The take-over came after an appeal submitted by the family’s lawyer was rejected by the District Court this morning. In their appeal, the Palestinian family was challenging an earlier court decision that deemed a section of the house illegal and ordered that the keys be given to settlers. The settlers proceeded to enter the house, while the court did not grant them the right to enter the property.

The al-Kurd home was built in 1956. An addition to the house was built 10 years ago, but the family was not allowed to inhabit the section because the municipality refused to grant them a building permit.

The al-Kurds have become the fourth Sheikh Jarrah family whose house (or part of it) has been occupied by settlers in the last year. So far, 60 people have been left homeless. In total, 28 families living in the Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes.

In a strategic plan, settlers have been utilizing discriminatory laws to expand their presence in Occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinians, who face difficulties in acquiring building permits from the municipality, are often left with no legal recourse for extending their homes to accompany their growing families. The Israeli authorities exercise their abilities to demolish and evict Palestinian residents, while ignoring building violations from the Israeli population in East Jerusalem. Visibly unequal practices make it possible for settlers to move into a home where it was declared illegal for Palestinian residents to inhabit.

Jews take over Jerusalem house from Palestinians

Douglas Hamilton | Reuters

3 November 2009

Jews took over another house in Arab East Jerusalem on Tuesday in what Palestinians say is a systematic campaign to drive them out and strengthen Israel’s hold on all of Jerusalem.

The house, built 10 years ago by the al-Kurd family, is the seventh this year to be awarded to Jewish settlers following legal battles in the Israeli courts, where the Palestinians say a fair hearing is impossible to obtain.

The houses, in a predominantly Palestinian district, now fly the Israeli flag and are protected by men with guns.

The al-Kurd house was unoccupied and locked for eight years by court order pending settlement of a land-ownership dispute.

Police kept members of the family back as a dozen Israeli men removed furniture.

“They can go to Syria, Iraq, Jordan. We are six million and they are billions,” said Yehya Gureish, an Arabic-speaking Yemen-born Jew who said his family owned the land and had Ottoman Empire documentation to prove it.

“This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us,” he said.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing the area in a 1967 war and regards all of the city as its capital, a claim not recognised internationally. Some 200,000 Jews live in East Jerusalem, alongside about 250,000 Palestinians.

Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to create in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, say they have little chance of winning property cases in Israeli courts or reclaiming land or homes in West Jerusalem and Israel.

The home takeover was filmed by an activist from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, whose video includes some cursing and a brief scuffle, but no violence.

“I am Jerusalemite, a Palestinian. I didn’t come from all over the world,” said Rifka al-Kurd, who had the house built 10 years ago for her married daughter.

A group of Orthodox religious Jews watched the scene from the rooftop of a nearby house they took over in early August, on the same day as its Palestinian residents were evicted onto the street. An Israeli flag fluttered from the roof.

Also watching were members of the al-Ghawi family, who have symbolically camped on the sidewalk next to their former home for three months in a protest against eviction. Their tent was broken up by Israeli police last week but they set it up again.

The United States and the United Nations have demanded Israel stop evicting Palestinians in East Jerusalem or demolishing their homes.

Israel says it is on solid legal ground in tearing down structures built without permits. Palestinians says building permission is impossible to obtain from Israeli authorities.

Today in Jerusalem

3 November 2009 | de l’autre côté du mur

When talking about Palestine and Palestinian’s rights it is difficult to decide where to start. So I will just tell you day about my day of today.

9:39am: I am drinking my second cup of tea, trying to do my arabic homework, (last minute as usual) when I got a text message “DWG alert : demolition ongoing of a structure in Abu Dur in East Jerusalem. For further info call xxx”. I ring the number, try to get info about this address and figure out if it is still time to get there or if everything is already over.

I jump into a taxi, and start grumbling against Jerusalem’s traffic. When we reach Abu Dur, a truck blocks the street. I get out the taxi, decided to find the place walking. But I realize I am in a very Jewish and “bourgeois” neighbourhood. Obviously nobody is going to demolish anything here. Did I misunderstood the indication? Did the taxi driver make a bad joke? I get down the hill looking for buldozers. Finally the neighbourhood’s look changes. Smaller houses, pourer, narrow streets. Much more arabic looking. And suddenly 4 soldiers heavily equipped. They stare at me. I don’t look very local. “Where are you going?” “I’m visiting” “Visiting whom? “nobody, just looking for a nice place to take photos” “Passport?”

10:25am: After checking my passport they let me go through. I hate them but at least I know I am on the right way now. And a few hundreds meters further I reach the crime scene. The house, I mean the rubble.

ICAHD 1

A woman crying, another shouting her anger. Buldozers and police left a few minutes ago. Men from the family and neighbours are already active trying to clean the place. They received an order from the municipal representative to clear out all the rubble that used to be their home within a week, otherwise they would receive a fine.

ICAHD 2

The few belongings the family managed to save are piled on the street. A children bike, books, a cupboard, toys, kitchen items. That’s it. 2 houses, 16 persons just lost their all house, home, history, dignity, hope.

The father of the family fainted twice during the demolition, and was hospitalized.

Atmosphere is oppressive. A few people taking pictures, a few journalists. I meet people from Icahd, the ngo I volunteer with. Closed faces. What can we do or say? I don’t know and feel ashamed and sad.

11am: Time to go. I’m already late for my arabic class though I promised myself I would not miss any.

During an hour and half I try to focus on grammar. I don’t feel comfortable to speak about much with other students. This is life in Israel. Deal with ignorance at the best, and hate at the worst in your daily life.But I am the lucky one, I can go from one side to the other.

13h50: I am at Icahd’ office in West Jerusalem. I am determined to focus on the advocacy document I am supposed to work on.

14h: phone call: new house demolition in Beit Hanina. We try to get more information before jumping into a taxi again, an arab one preferably cause others usually refuse to go to this part of Jerusalem.

14h30 : still in the taxi, tens of phone calls to try to locate the house.

ICAHD 3

15h : we found it. Again to late. Buldozers left half an hour ago. 22 persons homeless. A family with 10 children, plus grand-children. This house was built seven years ago. They have already payed 42000 shekels ( more than 8000 euros) as fines to ‘regularize’ their situation. Yesterday, the court ruled it was illegal. This morning the family received demolition order. this afternoon the buldozers.

Some families live years under demolition order. Not them. You never know when and where they are going to demolish one of the thousands of houses declared illegal. And one day, you see the buldozers coming, you have ten minutes to pack and then it’s over. A woman from the family fainted when she saw the buldozers. The army called an ambulance. The ambulance treated her. Then the army gave the family the bill for the ambulance… They will then receive the bill for the demolition cost. Arrogance, cynism have no limit here.

ICAHD 4

A few months ago, the municipality told the family that if they would destroy by themselves the small annex they have, they would not touch the main house. The owner did it. He took off the roof and walls of the adjacent small building. Now he has absolutely nothing.

Is it necessary to add that it is raining and cold winter has just started.

ICAHD 5

I am there with an israeli activist from Icahd. Communication is therefore in hebrew. I can just take a few pictures. The only one smiling here is the little girl, maybe 4 years old. She asks me “Leish?” showing the destroyed house. This, I understand : “Why?”. I cannot answer anything, in whatever language.

After a few months of pause, the municipality of Jerusalem has clearly reinstated its illegal and racist policy of house demolitions in East Jerusalem. 11 within the last 3 weeks. These houses are ruled illegal by a municipality which does not grant any construction permits to Arabs but who promotes illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

My day is not over but it’s enough for now, Masalama.

Evicted Sheikh Jarrah families demonstrate outside of US consulate

2 November 2009

On Monday 2 November 2009 between 11 and 12am, a quiet demonstration was held outside the USA consulate in East Jerusalem, close to the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Coinciding with USA foreign secretary Hillary Clinton’s visit to Israel, the demonstration asked for the USA to apply more pressure on Israel and stop the home confiscations and evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah.

The demonstration gathered about 30-40 demonstrators and was covered by a number of press reporters. In addition to Sheikh Jarrah families, participant organizations included Ta’ayush, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, International Solidarity Movement, Michigan Peace Team, and Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. A police vehicle with heavily armed police officers arrived after five minutes and maintained a peripheral position for the remainder of the demonstration.

Israeli police demolish Gawi tent for the third time

1 November 2009

On Sunday 1 November 2009 at 9:50am, eight Israeli police vehicles and about 20 heavily armed police accompanied by several municipality officers arrived outside the Gawi family house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Despite failing to present a valid court order, they quickly demolished the tent where the Gawi family have been living since they were forcefully evicted from their home on 2 August 2009.

The tent and the few remaining family belongings – chairs, mattresses and blankets, water cistern, gas heater and food – were loaded onto three pick-up trucks and taken away. By 10:10am, the demolition and confiscation were completed.

The tent destroyed today was built to replace the original protest tent that was in a similar scenario demolished and confiscated last Thursday. It was the only shelter the Gawi family was left with since they were forcefully evicted from their home in August. With very limited chances of finding alternative accommodation and in an act of resistance, they continue to live and sleep in a tent, on the sidewalk opposite to their now occupied house.

The new makeshift tent didn’t, however, provide sufficient protection for the family against the changing weather conditions – especially evenings and nights are very cold in Sheikh Jarrah, with strong chilly winds. Over the weekend, during the heavy rains, the family was forced to sleep in an empty lorry container for one night.

Background

The Gawi and Hannoun families, consisting of 53 members including 20 children, have been left homeless after they were forcibly evicted from their houses on 2 August 2009. The Israeli forces surrounded the homes of the two families at 5.30am and, breaking in through the windows, forcefully dragged all residents into the street. The police also demolished the neighbourhood’s protest tent, set up by Um Kamel, following the forced eviction of her family in November 2008.

At present, all three houses are occupied by settlers and the whole area is patrolled by armed private settler security 24 hours a day. Both Hannoun and Gawi families, who have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.

The Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah is home to 28 Palestinian families, all refugees from 1948, who received their houses from the UNRWA and Jordanian government in 1956. All face losing their homes in the manner of the Hannoun, Gawi and al-Kurd families.

The aim of the settlers is to turn the whole area into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The plight of the Gawi, al-Kurd and the Hannoun families isjust a small part of Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from East Jerusalem.