Tag: Jerusalem - Page 40 - International Solidarity Movement

Police dismantle Sheikh Jarrah protest tent in east Jerusalem

Abe Selig | The Jerusalem Post

29 October 2009

Police and Border Police officers dismantled a tent in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Wednesday morning, set up to protest the August eviction of one of two families in the neighborhood’s Shimon Hatzadik section.

The tent, located across the street from the former home of the Gawi family, was erected after both they and the Hanoun family were evicted from their homes on August 2.

Police ordered the evictions after lengthy court battles had resulted in rulings favoring Jewish claimants who maintained that the properties belonged to them.

While numerous vigils and protests have occurred in the neighborhood since, the tent opposite the former Gawi home had also been a meeting point for left-wing activists and “solidarity visits” from European Union and UN officials.

Tensions in the area have risen as well, after a brawl broke out in front of the Gawi tent last Tuesday, and both sides in the fight – Jews living in the home and members of the Gawi family – blamed each other for starting the violence. Five people required medical attention after the clash, and police arrested five others.

Additionally, police arrested a Greek diplomat, Tina Strikou, in front of the tent on Monday afternoon after declaring that activists in the area were taking part in an “illegal demonstration.” Three other people, including Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann of Rabbis for Human Rights, were also arrested.

After last Tuesday’s brawl, MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) sent a letter to Police Commander Aharon Franco, along with Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, in which he called on police to dismantle the Gawi’s tent immediately.

“The tent is illegal,” Ben-Ari said at the time. “It’s where the incitement begins for these people to attack the Jews living there. It’s simply unsafe.” Police would not verify on Wednesday if the dismantling of the tent was in direct response to Ben-Ari’s requests, or if it came in the wake of the increasing arrests at the site.

A large police force deployed in the neighborhood to dismantle the tent. According to witnesses, police forcibly knocked the structure down around 10:15 a.m., and then left the area some 30 minutes later. When a few of the women who had been inside the tent attempted to set up another structure – this time a sheet and some poles – police returned and took that down as well.

Maher Hanoun, the father of the second family that was evicted in August, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that he was tired and saddened by the entire situation.

“We need protection,” he said. “First for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah who are facing future eviction, and also for those of us who have been evicted.”

Hanoun, who has also been keeping a vigil outside of his home, just a block up the hill from the Gawi’s, said that the Palestinian Authority had been paying for a hotel room for the women and children from his family, but had stopped over a week ago, and his kids were again sleeping outside.

“We need the support of the [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] and the Jordanian government,” Hanoun added. “They are the ones who put us here when we were refugees, and now look – we’ve become refugees again.”

A number of homes in the neighborhood, which had belonged to Jews before 1948, were later seized by the Jordanian government under its “Enemy Property Law” during Jordanian rule in the area from 1948 to 1967.

In 1956, 28 Palestinian families who had been receiving refugee assistance from UNRWA were selected to benefit from a relief project, in which they forfeited their refugee aid and moved into homes built on “formerly Jewish property leased by the Custodian of Enemy Property to the Ministry of Development.”

The agreement stipulated that the ownership of the homes was to be put in the families’ names – a step that never took place – and court battles between Jewish groups who represent some of the former Jewish homeowners in the area and the current Palestinian residents have been ongoing, in some cases, since the 1980s.

“There are six additional families right now who are facing possible eviction,” Hanoun said. “And there are others after them. We are here legally, through the agreement we made with UNRWA and the Jordanians. They need to step in and help us, because we’re sick and tired of living like this.”

Israeli forces demolish tent of evicted family in Sheikh Jarrah

28 October 2009

On Wednesday 28 October, around 50 armed police and border police cordoned off a road in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem and, as ordered by the Jerusalem Municipality, demolished a tent, where the Gawi family has been living since they were forcibly evicted from their home on 2 August 2009. The destruction occurred despite the presence of a delegation of members of the European Parliament led by Vice President Luisa Morgantini.

At 10.15am, the Israeli forces surrounded the tent where a member of the Gawi family was preparing breakfast holding her two year old daughter. Supported by only a few people who were present in the area at this time, she tried to gather at least some of the family’s belongings and verbally protested the violent destruction of their only shelter as the police tore the tent down and confiscated everything that was left. A few mattresses and bedding were thrown in a pile on the pavement, while the tent and other belongings were loaded on a truck. Within minutes, after the police left, the family with the help from the neighbours erected another tent, providing at least minimum shelter for them.

By the time the Israeli forces completed the demolishion, a group of about 80 activists, journalists and Palestinians arrived, along with a group of UN workers and members of the European Parliament, to express solidarity witht the evicted family. The Israeli police returned and issued a warning over the loudspeaker that anyone who doesn’t leave the area within five minutes will be arrested. They then ripped down the newly erected marquee, loaded it on a truck and left.

At the end the members of the Gawi family thanked friends and supporters for their solidarity and called on all human beings to stand with them in their resistance. The Gawi family, together with the Hannoun family, who are also living on the street nearby after they were evicted from their home, have vowed to continue their struggle to regain their houses from the Israeli settlers and intend to erect another tent whilst they continue to sleep opposite their home and in full sight of the illegal settlers who often abuse and harass them.

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.

Israeli police arrest Greek diplomat in Sheikh Jarrah

26 October 2006

On Monday 26 October 2009 at 4pm, a group of about 40 – 50 international and Israeli citizens, taking part in a tour organised by the Alternative Information Centre visited the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. They gathered outside of the house of the Gawi family which was recently forcefully evicted from their house, only for it to be taken over by settlers.

Israeli police units summoned by the settlers occupying the Gawi family house, arrived at the scene and responded to what they claimed was an illegal demonstration by clearly disproportionate violence. In an attempt to disperse the crowd, the police arrested four participants of the tour – an Israeli rabbi, Yehiel Grenimann from Rabbis for Human Rights, a Greek diplomat, Tina Strikou and two international activists.

At first, only one police unit arrived to the area and started pushing the crowd away from the Gawi family house, to the other side of the street where the family has been living since they were forcefully evicted on 2 August 2009. Those who refused to move or moved slowly were violently pushed by the police. Two more police units arrived later and, using a loud-speaker, made an announcement in Hebrew, apparently an order to leave the area or to move to the sidewalk opposite to the Gawi family house within 5 minutes.

The police then started to collect passport information from the remaining visitors. When Tina Strikou, a Greek diplomat, protested that the police didn’t have the right to do this and demanded they return her passport, she was forcefully taken into custody.

A couple of minutes later, an Israeli rabbi Yehiel Grenimann from Rabbits for Human Rights, who was standing in the middle of the street was pushed back towards the sidewalk by a police officer. When he gently resisted, the police forcefully arrested him. He lost his glasses and a shoe while the police dragged him into their car. An international activist who was filming the arrest of the rabbi from close range became the third person to be arrested and taken away from the scene.

In the last couple of days, residents of Sheikh Jarrah have seen a rise in harassment form the police and Israeli authorities, as well as violence and provocative actions from the side of the settlers occupying houses which belong to the Gawi and Hannoun family. Last Tuesday 20 October, a group of settlers attacked several members of the Gawi family, mainly women and children. The attack resulted in seven Palestinians injured and six detained. On Sunday 18 October 2009, the police and municipality workers came to the tent where the Gawi family lives and verbally ordered them to remove the tent before Sunday 25 October 2009.

Furthermore, on Tuesday, 27 October, the second hearing of the Sabagh family from Sheikh Jarrah will take place. Similar to the families Al-Kurd, Gawi, and Hannoun, the Sabagh family is also under the threat of eviction.

Background

Tensions escalate in Sheikh Jarrah as settlers attempt to provoke violence

23 October 2009

On Friday 23 October 2009, tensions ran high when 30 settlers conducted a provocative prayer on the street outside the confiscated Gawi family house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Several heavily armed Israeli police units arrived quickly thereafter but they did not stop the prayer until after one hour. In response to the settler action, the Gawi family and Palestinian neighbours put up a display of resistance by making noise with pans and horns which drowned out the prayer noise. Many internationals arrived on the scene to document the event and discourage any physical attack by the settlers or police. After the visiting settlers had left the neighbourhood, the police withdrew, leaving one unit on the street outside the house all night long.

The incident started at 4pm when a large number of settlers arrived at the house. This immediately sparked worries about a potential violent attack. The tension escalated at 5pm when 30 settlers exited the house and gathered on the sidewalk outside, in close proximity to the small tent just across the road, where the Gawi family have been living since they were forcefully evicted from their now occupied house on 2 August 2009. Facing the staircase running along the front of the house, the settlers collectively conducted a passionate and loud prayer. After about 30 minutes, they changed the prayer mode to singing and dancing in a ring. The one hour long prayer seemingly blessed and celebrated the Jewish family’s confiscation of the house, showing no sign of concern for the hardship inflicted upon the Gawi family.

A couple of days earlier, on Tuesday 20 October 2009 at around 8pm, the Gawi family were violently attacked by a group of eight settlers. In that attack, lasting 30 minutes, seven members of the Gawi family had to be treated in hospital for relatively minor injuries, for example a knife-cut hand, and their tent was vandalised. Six police units arrived on the scene but did not stop the attack, instead opting to first observe the attack and later arrest five local residents including members of the Ghawi family; three of them were quickly released but two remain in custody for allegedly attacking settlers.

The day after that attack, about 20 settlers arrived for a meeting in the occupied house, causing tension and anxiety about another potential attack. Relatives and neighbours of the Gawi family gathered around the tent, and organised a night-watch presence for the next couple of days, putting the family under an even bigger pressure as they were getting barely any sleep. Settlers are armed with guns and knives, while Palestinians are not even allowed to be in possession of kitchen knives.

On Sunday 18 October 2009, the police and municipality workers came to the tent and verbally gave an eviction notice to the Gawi family, ordering them to remove the tent before Sunday 25 October 2009. In response to this planned eviction, international activists gathered in the area, in order to discourage or document potential violence, as well as to discourage the eviction. As of Sunday night, the tent is still standing, however, according to the family and local residents, the threat is not over.

Background

Clashes erupt at Aqsa compound

Al Jazeera

25 October 2009

Dozens of people have been wounded in clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians in and around the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a flashpoint site holy to Muslims and Jews.

The Red Crescent emergency service said at least 18 Palestinians were wounded in the violence on Sunday.

At least three officers were also hurt in the fighting, Israeli police said.

The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

An Israeli police spokesman said at least 16 people were arrested, but that calm had largely returned to the area several hours after the clashes broke out.

Israeli police action

Jivara al-Budairi, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Jerusalem, said the violence in the Old City erupted after the Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinian students and youths in the area.

The youths retaliated by throwing stones at the police.

Israeli police had deployed extra troops to the site early on Sunday after Palestinians called for demonstrations in response to rumours that rightwing Jewish activists were planning to gather at the compound.

The rumours circulated after a fringe Israeli group, the Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights on the Temple Mount, called on Jews to gather at the mosque compound as well as the adjacent Western Wall.

A spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, condemned “the storming of Haram al-Sharif by Israeli forces” and called on Israel to “halt all provocative acts”.

“Jerusalem is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Nabil Abu Rudeina told the AFP news agency, calling on the international community to intervene to “put pressure on the Israeli government”.

Palestinian officials said the Israeli police had closed off the compound to visitors, leaving hundreds of worshipers inside.

Shmuel Ben-Ruby, the Jerusalem police spokesman, said security forces used stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators.

He accused the protesters of pouring oil on the ground to make the police forces slip, and of hurling a firebomb.

Ben-Ruby said police did not enter the mosque itself.

‘Angry Palestinians’

But Kamal Khatib, a spokesman for the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, which has been at the forefront of recent al-Aqsa demonstrations, blamed Israeli police for the clashes.

“The police always excuse their attacks by saying that the worshippers threw stones,” he told AFP.
“It is clear they just want to justify their crimes.”

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in East Jerusalem, said: “Palestinians living in the occupied part of the city put up with a lot of indignity and harassment on a daily basis – demolitions, evictions, checkpoints.

“But when it comes to anything that threatens the integrity of al-Aqsa mosque, that is where people’s patience snaps and that is why we have seen such an angry response all over East Jerusalem [from people] who see this as a very heavy display of police might.”

Tensions had exploded into violence earlier on September 27, when Palestinians hurled rocks at a group of visitors who they suspected of being rightwing Jewish extremists.

Israel captured the compound from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War and it has since served as a symbol of the two sides’ competing claims to Jerusalem.

Day-to-day administration of the site remains in Muslim hands.

In September 2000, the second Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, erupted after Ariel Sharon, a rightwing politician who went on to become Israel’s prime minister, visited the site.