Bethlehem Ghetto
justicewheels — April 25, 2010 — The Ghetto of Bethlehem is shrinking, the people are resisting but feel abandoned by the self-appointed leadership. Many people complain that the Prime Minister who was not elected or confirmed by the parliament comes to give his blessings to projects or to plant a tree for the cameras. In fact he symbolically planted a tree in Mitris front yard after the army bulldozed his trees. Internationals and locals replaced the childrens swings and slide only to see them pulled out again a few days later. We now have the video of the dragging of nonviolent protesters from the garden of Mitri and tape of the destruction of his childrens playground http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1iWdi...
Saturday night we had an educational protest to hundreds of Italian tourists who were brought by the catholic church on pilgrimage. We were distressed to find that they had coordinated their visit with the Palestinian ministry of tourism AND with the Israeli ministry of tourism. We objected to the way it was presented and dealt with. The wall is not after all a border between states to march to for peace and play games on the other side. The wall is an illegal apartheid structure built on occupied territories separating Palestinians in the shrinking Bethlehem Ghetto from their land and from other Palestinians and from their holy sites in Jerusalem. As the Italians were crossing the apartheid wall, the Israeli army was extending the wall around Al-Walaja village of Bethlehem and destroying more of Mitris land. But Al-Walaja people were heroic on Sunday. They delayed the uprooting of their trees at a cost to themselves: over 30 were injured and several detained. Internationals and Israelis were there. I will try to get you the link to a video of the actual action. It is hard for us to be at many places of destruction at one time and we lack resources to get video cameras in the hands of qualified people to document the atrocities so this initial video (photographed by another person) has little of the more rough and tumble action.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Showing posts with label Land grab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Land grab. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Bil'in Night Raid September 12, 2009
Bilin night raid 12.09.09 by haitham al katib:
"Bil'in night raid 12.09.09
Shortly after 2pm, the Israeli occupation forces invaded the village of Bil'in from two different directions once again. They raided two houses in an attempt to arrest Mohammed Ahmed Yasseen (age 21), and Yasseen Mohammed Yasseen (age 21). In the first house soldiers were quite aggressive during their operation. Neither of the wanted men was home at the time.
At the second house, the soldiers, disguised with face masks as usual, met a lot of resistance from Palestinian and international activists who were standing in their way and filming the event. As they did not find their victim, they eventually retreated to the four waiting Jeeps, arresting one international activist from Great Britain on their way. Yet, according to their conversation in Hebrew, they planned to release him a little further on their way toward the Apartheid Wall. He was indeed released a few minutes later before they exited through the Wall.
This has been the second night raid this week. It seems that the Israeli forces are stepping up their night raids again in Bil'in."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Bil'in night raid 12.09.09
Shortly after 2pm, the Israeli occupation forces invaded the village of Bil'in from two different directions once again. They raided two houses in an attempt to arrest Mohammed Ahmed Yasseen (age 21), and Yasseen Mohammed Yasseen (age 21). In the first house soldiers were quite aggressive during their operation. Neither of the wanted men was home at the time.
At the second house, the soldiers, disguised with face masks as usual, met a lot of resistance from Palestinian and international activists who were standing in their way and filming the event. As they did not find their victim, they eventually retreated to the four waiting Jeeps, arresting one international activist from Great Britain on their way. Yet, according to their conversation in Hebrew, they planned to release him a little further on their way toward the Apartheid Wall. He was indeed released a few minutes later before they exited through the Wall.
This has been the second night raid this week. It seems that the Israeli forces are stepping up their night raids again in Bil'in."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Palestinian farmers (Beit Ummar) oppose Land confiscations aug 09
Palestinian farmers (Beit Ummar) oppose Land confiscations aug 09:
"On August 21st 2009, we joined local Palestinian farmers and members of Palestine Solidarity Project at a nonviolent action near the security fence [read apartheid wall] around Karmei Zur settlement. This settlement is near the village of Beit Ummar, half way between Bethlehem and Hebron.
The army have apparently agreed to allow the farmers access their land inside the fence: however, the local farmers dont see why they should have to ask the army to go to lands which they legally own. As has happened in other places, the farmers see this as the slippery slope to a permit system and eventually to being excluded altogether. (I have seen the same thing in Hebron city, where Palestinians are either barred from using certain roads, or are now required to have permits to go where they traveled freely before.)
Also present were a number of other internationals, some Israelis from Tel Aviv, as well as some journalists. The group walked to the outer security fence of the Karmi Zur settlement. Two Palestinian activists/farmers inserted papers with the slogans we will never leave our land, stop illegal building on Palestinian land on the fence'. Two of the landowners joined the group. They showed copies of ownership papers the Ottoman period.
On the video, you can see part of the new road being built, for the settlers, on Palestinian land, between the settlement and the security fence built by the military. ِِIn addition, a watchtower is going to be erected.
When the army arrived, we spoke to one of the soldiers. He was able to have a respectful talk, even though he wasnt accepting that their presence there legalized theft. Oh yes, he said, we all want peace and love. He said the fence was built after attacks on settlers by the terrorists.
The names of the families who cant access their land are Abu-Marya, Soleiby, Awwad, Abu Ayyesh, and Sabarna. Since the security fence was built, the army either prevents access, or wants farmers to co-ordinate their access with them. Several of the Palestinian farmers here are refusing to seek permission to access land which is legally theirs. They have also turned down offers of large sums of money for their land.
Polite conversation with the soldier ended when an armed and aggressive settler security person arrived. He shouted insults at the internationals, and Go back to Germany and Go back to the Holocaust to an activist who identified himself as Jewish. He then opened the gate in the fence, insisting that the army disperse the activists. We all left. The army followed behind, then randomly seized an international, who was detained then later released.
For more information about Palestine Solidarity Project, see the website: http://palestinesolidarityproject.org"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"On August 21st 2009, we joined local Palestinian farmers and members of Palestine Solidarity Project at a nonviolent action near the security fence [read apartheid wall] around Karmei Zur settlement. This settlement is near the village of Beit Ummar, half way between Bethlehem and Hebron.
The army have apparently agreed to allow the farmers access their land inside the fence: however, the local farmers dont see why they should have to ask the army to go to lands which they legally own. As has happened in other places, the farmers see this as the slippery slope to a permit system and eventually to being excluded altogether. (I have seen the same thing in Hebron city, where Palestinians are either barred from using certain roads, or are now required to have permits to go where they traveled freely before.)
Also present were a number of other internationals, some Israelis from Tel Aviv, as well as some journalists. The group walked to the outer security fence of the Karmi Zur settlement. Two Palestinian activists/farmers inserted papers with the slogans we will never leave our land, stop illegal building on Palestinian land on the fence'. Two of the landowners joined the group. They showed copies of ownership papers the Ottoman period.
On the video, you can see part of the new road being built, for the settlers, on Palestinian land, between the settlement and the security fence built by the military. ِِIn addition, a watchtower is going to be erected.
When the army arrived, we spoke to one of the soldiers. He was able to have a respectful talk, even though he wasnt accepting that their presence there legalized theft. Oh yes, he said, we all want peace and love. He said the fence was built after attacks on settlers by the terrorists.
The names of the families who cant access their land are Abu-Marya, Soleiby, Awwad, Abu Ayyesh, and Sabarna. Since the security fence was built, the army either prevents access, or wants farmers to co-ordinate their access with them. Several of the Palestinian farmers here are refusing to seek permission to access land which is legally theirs. They have also turned down offers of large sums of money for their land.
Polite conversation with the soldier ended when an armed and aggressive settler security person arrived. He shouted insults at the internationals, and Go back to Germany and Go back to the Holocaust to an activist who identified himself as Jewish. He then opened the gate in the fence, insisting that the army disperse the activists. We all left. The army followed behind, then randomly seized an international, who was detained then later released.
For more information about Palestine Solidarity Project, see the website: http://palestinesolidarityproject.org"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Where are all the villages? Ethnically cleansed & destroyed Khirbat Idmith
Tracing All That Rmains of the destroyede village of Kh Idmith:
Over 500 ethnically cleansed and destroyed Palestinian villages to empty the land for colonialist zionist settlers. Here are the remains of another such village with remains still evident to condemn the crime visited upon the Palestinians.
"Khirbat Idnmith is a Palestinian village which was ethnically cleansed and destroyed soon after the 1948 war by the Israeli Army."
AbuSous2000
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Over 500 ethnically cleansed and destroyed Palestinian villages to empty the land for colonialist zionist settlers. Here are the remains of another such village with remains still evident to condemn the crime visited upon the Palestinians.
"Khirbat Idnmith is a Palestinian village which was ethnically cleansed and destroyed soon after the 1948 war by the Israeli Army."
AbuSous2000
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Tent of Nations
Tent of Nations:
"In August, 2009, AIC visited the Tent of Nations, a farm situated in the middle of 4 Jewish settlements in Palestine, just southwest of Bethlehem, neighbouring the village of Nahalin.
Now in its fourth generation, the farm which harvests olive trees, grapes and other products, is under constant threat of occupation. Daoud Nassar, third generation farmer and owner of the land, along with his family, has withstood settler attacks and Israeli military lawsuits disputing his ownership.
Nassar and his family, with the the support of international volunteers and organizations, are maintaining the farm, hosting youth camps and professional workshops for women.
http://www.tentofnations.org/
Vision:
The Tent of Nations is a fulfilled dream of Bishara Nassar the Palestinian Christian who lived all his life in Bethlehem city and on the land itself. Bishara devoted his life to protecting his land. He ordained his family's land for network projects, which included a youth activity hall. Bishara died in 1976. However, his family carried on with the work to uphold the vision.
In the year 2000, friends joined the Nassar's vision and Together they found the Tent of Nations, remarking that a portion of the land was dedicated to the Tent of Nations by the Nassar family.
Today, the Tent of Nations is housed under the Bethlehem Bible College umbrella with support from Friends of Tent of Nations.
Land History:
Daher Nassar (Bishara's father) purchased this land in 1924. Since that time, many family members have worked the land by day, and slept in caves by night. The land has produced olives, grapes, and wheatetc.
In 1991, the Israeli government declared the whole area including the Nassars portion to be an Israeli state property.
The Nassar family has all the original land papers and contributed plenty of work to the land from the time of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governance, which shows that the Israeli government has no right to declare it because obviously the land belongs to the family since 1924 the date of purchase.
The Nassar family challenged Israel's declaration and therefore the case was brought to the court."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"In August, 2009, AIC visited the Tent of Nations, a farm situated in the middle of 4 Jewish settlements in Palestine, just southwest of Bethlehem, neighbouring the village of Nahalin.
Now in its fourth generation, the farm which harvests olive trees, grapes and other products, is under constant threat of occupation. Daoud Nassar, third generation farmer and owner of the land, along with his family, has withstood settler attacks and Israeli military lawsuits disputing his ownership.
Nassar and his family, with the the support of international volunteers and organizations, are maintaining the farm, hosting youth camps and professional workshops for women.
http://www.tentofnations.org/
Vision:
The Tent of Nations is a fulfilled dream of Bishara Nassar the Palestinian Christian who lived all his life in Bethlehem city and on the land itself. Bishara devoted his life to protecting his land. He ordained his family's land for network projects, which included a youth activity hall. Bishara died in 1976. However, his family carried on with the work to uphold the vision.
In the year 2000, friends joined the Nassar's vision and Together they found the Tent of Nations, remarking that a portion of the land was dedicated to the Tent of Nations by the Nassar family.
Today, the Tent of Nations is housed under the Bethlehem Bible College umbrella with support from Friends of Tent of Nations.
Land History:
Daher Nassar (Bishara's father) purchased this land in 1924. Since that time, many family members have worked the land by day, and slept in caves by night. The land has produced olives, grapes, and wheatetc.
In 1991, the Israeli government declared the whole area including the Nassars portion to be an Israeli state property.
The Nassar family has all the original land papers and contributed plenty of work to the land from the time of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governance, which shows that the Israeli government has no right to declare it because obviously the land belongs to the family since 1924 the date of purchase.
The Nassar family challenged Israel's declaration and therefore the case was brought to the court."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Palestinian villagers protest land seizure - 04 Sep 09
Palestinian villagers protest land seizure - 04 Sep 09:
"Hundreds of Palestinian villagers have made a short but symbolic march to the separation wall that Israel has built on their land, a non-violent protests that they regularly undertake.
Equally, the protesters, marching from the village of Bilin, are regularly met with a violent response from the Israeli army.
'The village of Bilin is literally on the frontline of Israel's confiscation of Palestinian land and the construction of its separation barrier,' Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the village, said.
'Later today the villagers of Bilin will protest the fact that not only they, but also five neighbouring villages, have lost their land which has been seized to build an Israeli settlement.
'This huge settlement will result in 40,000 Jewish settlers living on occupied land here in the West Bank and as Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu is planning to give the go ahead for even more of these settlement homes to be built,' she said.
Netanyahu is set to approve plans to build hundreds of new homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, before considering US demands for a construction freeze."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Hundreds of Palestinian villagers have made a short but symbolic march to the separation wall that Israel has built on their land, a non-violent protests that they regularly undertake.
Equally, the protesters, marching from the village of Bilin, are regularly met with a violent response from the Israeli army.
'The village of Bilin is literally on the frontline of Israel's confiscation of Palestinian land and the construction of its separation barrier,' Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the village, said.
'Later today the villagers of Bilin will protest the fact that not only they, but also five neighbouring villages, have lost their land which has been seized to build an Israeli settlement.
'This huge settlement will result in 40,000 Jewish settlers living on occupied land here in the West Bank and as Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu is planning to give the go ahead for even more of these settlement homes to be built,' she said.
Netanyahu is set to approve plans to build hundreds of new homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, before considering US demands for a construction freeze."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, September 4, 2009
Settlers Push Palestinians to Sleep on Street
Settlers Push Palestinians to Sleep on Street:
"Israel's continuing policy of settling East Jerusalem has left dozens of Palestinians homeless and sleeping on the streets. Hundreds more are at risk, amidst allegations of document forgery by Israeli settlers who have taken over Palestinian homes.
Recently, Israeli riot police forcibly evicted 53 Palestinian refugees including 20 children from their homes in the East Jerusalem suburb Sheikh Jarrah. Many sustained injuries during the process."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Israel's continuing policy of settling East Jerusalem has left dozens of Palestinians homeless and sleeping on the streets. Hundreds more are at risk, amidst allegations of document forgery by Israeli settlers who have taken over Palestinian homes.
Recently, Israeli riot police forcibly evicted 53 Palestinian refugees including 20 children from their homes in the East Jerusalem suburb Sheikh Jarrah. Many sustained injuries during the process."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, July 24, 2009
Testimony of Resident Eviction at Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem
Testimony of Resident Eviction at Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem:
Related news:
UN Quartet, European Union Call on Israel to Halt Evictions in Sheikh Jarrah
Source: AIC
This afternoon (19 July 2009) in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, nearly 60 Palestinian, Israeli, and International supporters turned out in solidarity with the Hanoun and Ghawi families, whose final eviction orders became effective at 12:00pm today.
In a show of unity at the highest levels, prominent figures such as the UN representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, the Consul General of current European Union President, Sweden, Nils Eliasson, and the chief representative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rafik al-Husseini, called on Israel to cease the demolition of Palestinian homes, and stressed their expectation that the eviction of this family will not occur in the future. The Vice President of the European Union Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, made clear the EU's stance on Jerusalem—that it should be a capital for two states, shared by two people. In a spin on US President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, which has become a source of inspiration for the Hanoun family and residents of Sheikh Jarrah, Morgantiui said "yes we can" stop the current Israeli policy of Palestinian home evictions and demolitions in East Jerusalem.
Dozens of supporters, wearing Hebrew stickers that read "I am Maher Hanoun, come and arrest me," displayed their solidarity with the Sheikh Jarrah father who faces imminent imprisonment by the local authorities. Maher Hanoun was given the following ultimatum by the courts: either abandon your home by this date, or face indefinite jail time and exorbitant fines of 50,000 NIS + $50,000. The Hanoun family (including a wife and three children), with the support of the international community, has chosen to defy the courts and remain in their home, in hopes that the Israeli government will somehow change its stance.
Although the arrest and forceful eviction did not take place this afternoon, the stress of their imminence weighs heavily on the Hanoun family. Because it is no secret to those who have heard the stories of evicted Palestinian families in East Jerusalem—evictions and arrests don't take place in daylight, in front of cameras and foreign dignitaries, but rather under the cloak of darkness, when the international supporters are sleeping peacefully at home in their beds.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Related news:
UN Quartet, European Union Call on Israel to Halt Evictions in Sheikh Jarrah
Source: AIC
This afternoon (19 July 2009) in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, nearly 60 Palestinian, Israeli, and International supporters turned out in solidarity with the Hanoun and Ghawi families, whose final eviction orders became effective at 12:00pm today.
In a show of unity at the highest levels, prominent figures such as the UN representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, the Consul General of current European Union President, Sweden, Nils Eliasson, and the chief representative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rafik al-Husseini, called on Israel to cease the demolition of Palestinian homes, and stressed their expectation that the eviction of this family will not occur in the future. The Vice President of the European Union Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, made clear the EU's stance on Jerusalem—that it should be a capital for two states, shared by two people. In a spin on US President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, which has become a source of inspiration for the Hanoun family and residents of Sheikh Jarrah, Morgantiui said "yes we can" stop the current Israeli policy of Palestinian home evictions and demolitions in East Jerusalem.
Dozens of supporters, wearing Hebrew stickers that read "I am Maher Hanoun, come and arrest me," displayed their solidarity with the Sheikh Jarrah father who faces imminent imprisonment by the local authorities. Maher Hanoun was given the following ultimatum by the courts: either abandon your home by this date, or face indefinite jail time and exorbitant fines of 50,000 NIS + $50,000. The Hanoun family (including a wife and three children), with the support of the international community, has chosen to defy the courts and remain in their home, in hopes that the Israeli government will somehow change its stance.
Although the arrest and forceful eviction did not take place this afternoon, the stress of their imminence weighs heavily on the Hanoun family. Because it is no secret to those who have heard the stories of evicted Palestinian families in East Jerusalem—evictions and arrests don't take place in daylight, in front of cameras and foreign dignitaries, but rather under the cloak of darkness, when the international supporters are sleeping peacefully at home in their beds.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sunday, May 3, 2009
West Bank Bedouins fight to keep their native land
West Bank Bedouins flight road construction - 03 May 09:
"A Bedouin community in the Palestinian West Bank is going to court to try to stop Israel building what it calls a 'security road' through their grazing land. Work has already started on the road which runs outside the existing Israeli settlement of Karmel, near Hebron. As Al Jazeeras Zeina Awad reports, the villagers are determined to halt its progress and protect their livelihoods."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"A Bedouin community in the Palestinian West Bank is going to court to try to stop Israel building what it calls a 'security road' through their grazing land. Work has already started on the road which runs outside the existing Israeli settlement of Karmel, near Hebron. As Al Jazeeras Zeina Awad reports, the villagers are determined to halt its progress and protect their livelihoods."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, May 1, 2009
Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem
Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem
New UN report urges Israel to tackle Palestinian housing crisis in East Jerusalem
1 May 2009 – The United Nations humanitarian wing has urged Israel to address the housing crisis in East Jerusalem, where current building policies and house demolitions have left Palestinians with a serious housing shortage.
The crisis is due to the failure of Israel to provide Palestinian residents with adequate planning, together with the expropriation of about one third of annexed East Jerusalem lands for the construction of settlements, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in its latest report regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
While about 190,000 Israel settlers currently live in East Jerusalem, Palestinians face significant obstacles to building and are confronted with a serious housing shortage, according to the report, entitled “The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem: Understanding the Phenomenon of ‘Illegal’ Construction.”
Excessive delays, high fees and the uncertainty associated with the application process push many Palestinians to build without permits. According to OCHA’s conservative estimate, as many as 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem are now exposed to the risk of house demolition.
The report notes with concern the accelerating pace of demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem and their consequences for Palestinian populations.
Families displaced as a result of these demolitions, OCHA says, are left in psychological distress and in situations of increased vulnerability due to the loss of their primary asset, debts, legal fees and heavy fines imposed by the Jerusalem municipality.
The Office underlines that Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the basic needs of the Palestinian population of the occupied territory are met.
The report recommends that the Israeli authorities freeze pending demolition orders, as well as undertake planning that will address the Palestinian housing crisis in East Jerusalem.
B'Tselem - East Jerusalem - Discrimination in Planning, Building, and Land Expropriation: "Policy of discrimination in planning, building and land expropriation
The planning policy in East Jerusalem since its annexation in 1967 is affected by political considerations and infected by systematic discrimination against the Palestinians living there. While extensive building and enormous budget allocations have been the rule in Jewish neighborhoods, the Israeli government has choked development and building for the Palestinian population.
In June 1967, Israel annexed 70,500 dunams [4 dunams = 1 acre] of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and incorporated them within Jerusalem’s borders. From this annexed territory, Israel has expropriated about one-third of the annexed territory – 24,000 dunams – most of it privately-owned Arab property. Israel used this expropriated land for residential construction. By the end of 2001, 46,978 housing units had been built for Jews on this land, but not one unit for Palestinians who constitute one-third of the city’s population.
At the same time, Israel choked construction in Palestinian neighborhoods and restricted new construction. Immediately upon annexation of East Jerusalem, and contrary to its actions in the rest of the West Bank, the Jordanian outline plans were nullified, thus creating a planning void that took a long time to fill. In the first decade following annexation, construction was only allowed ad hoc in a few areas in East Jerusalem.
Much land surrounding Palestinian villages and neighborhoods was expropriated to build Jewish neighborhoods, leaving no room for Palestinian construction. The Jerusalem Municipality did not establish outline plans for the Palestinian areas. The few plans that were approved were primarily intended to prevent new construction by declaring broad expanses of land as “green areas,” restricting the building percentages on the lots, and setting narrow borders.
In the early 1980s, the Jerusalem Municipality began to prepare outline plans for all the Palestinian neighborhoods. Most of the plans are complete, and others are in the process of planning and approval. The most conspicuous feature of these outline plans is the vast amount (some 40 percent) of area that is designated as “open landscape areas,” on which building is forbidden. In the plans that were approved prior to the end of 1999, only some 5,100 dunams (constituting 11 percent of the land in East Jerusalem, after the expropriation of 24,000 dunams mentioned above) were available for construction for the Palestinian population. As is the case with the demarcation plans existing in the West Bank, construction is allowed primarily in built-up areas.
The consequences of this policy are evident in Palestinian neighborhoods. For example, at the end of 2002, housing density in Arab neighborhoods was almost twice that of Jewish neighborhoods, 11.9 square meters per person compared to 23.8 square meters per person. The existing situation has forced many Palestinians to build homes without first obtaining a building permit. The Jerusalem Municipality enforces the building laws on Palestinians much more stringently than on the Jewish population, even though the number of violations is much higher in the Jewish neighborhoods.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
New UN report urges Israel to tackle Palestinian housing crisis in East Jerusalem
1 May 2009 – The United Nations humanitarian wing has urged Israel to address the housing crisis in East Jerusalem, where current building policies and house demolitions have left Palestinians with a serious housing shortage.
The crisis is due to the failure of Israel to provide Palestinian residents with adequate planning, together with the expropriation of about one third of annexed East Jerusalem lands for the construction of settlements, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in its latest report regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
While about 190,000 Israel settlers currently live in East Jerusalem, Palestinians face significant obstacles to building and are confronted with a serious housing shortage, according to the report, entitled “The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem: Understanding the Phenomenon of ‘Illegal’ Construction.”
Excessive delays, high fees and the uncertainty associated with the application process push many Palestinians to build without permits. According to OCHA’s conservative estimate, as many as 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem are now exposed to the risk of house demolition.
The report notes with concern the accelerating pace of demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem and their consequences for Palestinian populations.
Families displaced as a result of these demolitions, OCHA says, are left in psychological distress and in situations of increased vulnerability due to the loss of their primary asset, debts, legal fees and heavy fines imposed by the Jerusalem municipality.
The Office underlines that Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the basic needs of the Palestinian population of the occupied territory are met.
The report recommends that the Israeli authorities freeze pending demolition orders, as well as undertake planning that will address the Palestinian housing crisis in East Jerusalem.
B'Tselem - East Jerusalem - Discrimination in Planning, Building, and Land Expropriation: "Policy of discrimination in planning, building and land expropriation
The planning policy in East Jerusalem since its annexation in 1967 is affected by political considerations and infected by systematic discrimination against the Palestinians living there. While extensive building and enormous budget allocations have been the rule in Jewish neighborhoods, the Israeli government has choked development and building for the Palestinian population.
In June 1967, Israel annexed 70,500 dunams [4 dunams = 1 acre] of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and incorporated them within Jerusalem’s borders. From this annexed territory, Israel has expropriated about one-third of the annexed territory – 24,000 dunams – most of it privately-owned Arab property. Israel used this expropriated land for residential construction. By the end of 2001, 46,978 housing units had been built for Jews on this land, but not one unit for Palestinians who constitute one-third of the city’s population.
At the same time, Israel choked construction in Palestinian neighborhoods and restricted new construction. Immediately upon annexation of East Jerusalem, and contrary to its actions in the rest of the West Bank, the Jordanian outline plans were nullified, thus creating a planning void that took a long time to fill. In the first decade following annexation, construction was only allowed ad hoc in a few areas in East Jerusalem.
Much land surrounding Palestinian villages and neighborhoods was expropriated to build Jewish neighborhoods, leaving no room for Palestinian construction. The Jerusalem Municipality did not establish outline plans for the Palestinian areas. The few plans that were approved were primarily intended to prevent new construction by declaring broad expanses of land as “green areas,” restricting the building percentages on the lots, and setting narrow borders.
In the early 1980s, the Jerusalem Municipality began to prepare outline plans for all the Palestinian neighborhoods. Most of the plans are complete, and others are in the process of planning and approval. The most conspicuous feature of these outline plans is the vast amount (some 40 percent) of area that is designated as “open landscape areas,” on which building is forbidden. In the plans that were approved prior to the end of 1999, only some 5,100 dunams (constituting 11 percent of the land in East Jerusalem, after the expropriation of 24,000 dunams mentioned above) were available for construction for the Palestinian population. As is the case with the demarcation plans existing in the West Bank, construction is allowed primarily in built-up areas.
The consequences of this policy are evident in Palestinian neighborhoods. For example, at the end of 2002, housing density in Arab neighborhoods was almost twice that of Jewish neighborhoods, 11.9 square meters per person compared to 23.8 square meters per person. The existing situation has forced many Palestinians to build homes without first obtaining a building permit. The Jerusalem Municipality enforces the building laws on Palestinians much more stringently than on the Jewish population, even though the number of violations is much higher in the Jewish neighborhoods.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Video diary: Palestinian family resists eviction - 21 Apr 09
Video diary: Palestinian family resists eviction - 21 Apr 09:
"Members of a Palestinian family who have been served an eviction notice to leave their home in the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem are taking it in turns to stay awake in case Israeli authorities come to force them out.
Rami Hannoun, one of the family members, said: 'The Israelis say they own this land, that they own it since a long time ago. But we also have papers that say we own this land'."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Members of a Palestinian family who have been served an eviction notice to leave their home in the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem are taking it in turns to stay awake in case Israeli authorities come to force them out.
Rami Hannoun, one of the family members, said: 'The Israelis say they own this land, that they own it since a long time ago. But we also have papers that say we own this land'."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, April 17, 2009
Jerusalem Palestinians fear eviction by Israel - 17 Apr 09
Jerusalem Palestinians fear eviction by Israel - 17 Apr 09:
"George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has met Palestinian leaders in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as part of efforts to revive stalled peace talks.
Many Palestinians hope that he will intervene to stop them being evicted from their homes by Israel.
But Palestinian families in east Jerusalem were this week served with eviction notices, despite the fact that the eastern half of the city is meant to constitute the capital of a future Palestinian state. The evictions are illegal, according to international law.
Clayton Swisher met some of those threatened with the loss of their homes."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has met Palestinian leaders in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as part of efforts to revive stalled peace talks.
Many Palestinians hope that he will intervene to stop them being evicted from their homes by Israel.
But Palestinian families in east Jerusalem were this week served with eviction notices, despite the fact that the eastern half of the city is meant to constitute the capital of a future Palestinian state. The evictions are illegal, according to international law.
Clayton Swisher met some of those threatened with the loss of their homes."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Denial of the right to worship, land grab and ethnic cleansing - Business as usual for Israel
Al-Aqsa ban highlights battle for Jerusalem - 16 Apr 09:
"Israeli security forces have prevented Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
They say it has been cordoned off because of potential clashes with Jewish protesters.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem, the disputed city in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Comment: What does Aljazeera mean by "Jerusalem, the disputed city"? Hasn't Jerusalem been recognized by every country in the world as Occupied land? Hasn't it been recognized by the UN Security Council as Occupied Land? WTF is the matter with Aljazeera?
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Israeli security forces have prevented Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
They say it has been cordoned off because of potential clashes with Jewish protesters.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem, the disputed city in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Comment: What does Aljazeera mean by "Jerusalem, the disputed city"? Hasn't Jerusalem been recognized by every country in the world as Occupied land? Hasn't it been recognized by the UN Security Council as Occupied Land? WTF is the matter with Aljazeera?
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Armed Settlers Entering Occupied Palestinian Home
Armed Settlers Entering Occupied Palestinian Home:
"Armed Settlers enter home in the Old City, East Jerusalem. These maniacs have been occupying this home for over a week and have been trying to move a settler family inside. I was called to help document the incident."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Armed Settlers enter home in the Old City, East Jerusalem. These maniacs have been occupying this home for over a week and have been trying to move a settler family inside. I was called to help document the incident."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Palestinians seek EU help to stop settlement spread
Increasing Israeli settlement activity:
"Palestinians seek EU help to stop settlement spread"
Dubai TV, UAE 090410
[LinkTV/Mosaic]
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Palestinians seek EU help to stop settlement spread"
Dubai TV, UAE 090410
[LinkTV/Mosaic]
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Press Conference by the residents of East Jerusalem
Press Conference On Sheikh Jarrah:
Sheikh Jarrah residents organize in the face of mass house evictions
Jeff Pickert writing from occupied East Jerusalem, Live from Palestine, 7 April 2009
Source: Electronic Intifada
"We are like the roots of a tree. The Israelis may cut us in places, but we will never die. We will not be transplanted from Jerusalem. I will not leave this house," Maher Hanun tells a crowded room of Palestinian community members supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists. Hanun is one of 51 residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem living in two housing units that are facing imminent eviction by Israeli authorities.
The mood is tense as more than 25 individuals pack into a small room in Hanun's house to plan how to fight the house evictions. Palestinian residents, organized under the Sheikh Jarrah Committee, have invited solidarity activists to come and support their struggle. Internationals from more than 10 countries and Israelis sit in chairs and on the floor as Hanun tells them his story. After his speech, they divide themselves into groups to cover the two threatened housing units. Both the families and the activists gathered in support are determined to stay inside the houses as long as possible when the police arrive to carry out the evictions.
The people living in these housing units, belonging to the al-Ghawe and Hanun families, are due to be forcibly removed from their homes this week, as the papers from the Israeli court they were served with are valid between 15 and 22 March. The courts have justified these evictions by saying that the land that the houses are built on is disputed. Yet, the houses were built under a joint construction project by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956, 11 years before Israel occupied East Jerusalem. The houses were given to the families, both made refugees in 1948 after Palestinians living in what became the state of Israel were expelled and dispossessed during what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe.
Now these families are threatened with another Nakba. Israeli settlers that have moved into Sheikh Jarrah have falsified documents claiming ownership of the land. The Hanun and al-Ghawe families have presented their legitimate documents and an Israeli judge has not yet ruled on the legality of these papers. Yet the eviction orders are still proceeding, even though no official decision has been reached as to whom the Israeli courts recognize as the true owners.
Both the Hanun and al-Ghawe families were forcibly evicted once before in 2002, after which they lived in tents for four months within sight of their former homes. This traumatic experience stands out as a vivid memory even for the children of the families. As they brace themselves to be evicted for the second time, the distress and apprehension in both households is clearly noticeable. Family members have spent many sleepless nights waiting for the police, never knowing exactly which night they will come. Women in the al-Ghawe residence often recount how their small children were thrown from a second floor window by police when they were evicted the last time.
In addition to the al-Ghawe and Hanun families, 25 other households are also threatened with eviction in Sheikh Jarrah, though official orders have not yet been issued by Israeli courts. In November 2008, the al-Kurd family was evicted from their home in the middle of the night despite widespread public support and diplomatic pressure from American and European diplomats on the Israelis to halt the eviction order. The al-Kurd family has erected a protest tent in the middle of Sheikh Jarrah from where they continue to demand the right to return to their homes. The Israeli police have destroyed the tent five times on the grounds that it is an "illegal structure" even though it is built on private Palestinian property.
Now, with the threat of removal again hanging over their heads, community members of Sheikh Jarrah are organizing. "Stop ethnic cleansing" is their main message to the Israeli authorities and the broader international community. These words can be seen on posters hung in the windows of neighborhood shops, on large banners over the entrances to the al-Ghawe and Hanun residences, as well as the T-shirts that organizers have distributed in the community.
This past week has seen a buzz of activity in the neighborhood. The Sheikh Jarrah Committee, supported by the Coalition for Jerusalem, the International Solidarity Movement, and other human rights organizations, have utilized a myriad of tactics to fight the eviction orders. Throughout the week, dignitaries from foreign nations, journalists, consular representatives from numerous European countries, and even Knesset members have all visited the homes and the protest tent to express their support for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah. The committee has held press conferences, demonstrations outside of court hearings and drafted statements condemning the orders.
The community also attempted to host an event as part of the Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture festival at the protest tent on 23 March. Israeli authorities have banned the festival in occupied East Jerusalem, yet organizers have continued to defy the ban in order to celebrate Jerusalem's rich Palestinian heritage. Sheikh Jarrah residents also gathered to protest the impending house evictions in addition to the increased repression of Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. Police violently prevented Sheikh Jarrah residents from praying in front of the tent in conjunction with the festival. Participants were badly beaten and eight people were arrested. The following week, another resident was arrested by police inside the tent for refusing to take down a Palestinian flag hanging inside.
The Sheikh Jarrah Committee members view their struggle against eviction as part of a larger struggle against Palestinian dispossession from East Jerusalem. The nearby neighborhoods of Silwan, Beit Hanina and Shufat refugee camp are also facing large-scale house demolitions and evictions. In the al-Bustaan neighborhood of Silwan alone, 88 houses are slated for demolition. Al-Bustaan residents have erected a protest tent similar to the one in Sheikh Jarrah, and this model of resistance seems to be spreading.
For now, the families and supporting activists wait for the police to come each night. They take shifts to make sure someone is up in each house to alarm the community when the Israeli authorities arrive. Some of the family members have removed all of their furniture in anticipation of the coming raids, but they continue to sleep on mats in the floor. The message is clear: they will not go quietly in the face of this injustice.
Jeff Pickert is an American who has been working in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem for the past four months.
"The residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem are facing eviction following a court decision ruling in favor of radical settlers even though in 2006 it was proven that the documents these settler produced were fake."
Representative from the Abbas office speaking on Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem.
Earlier related News item:
Palestinians benefit as Israel-Turkey ties sour
Jonathan Cook
Source: jkcook.net
Date: March 25. 2009
JERUSALEM // A legal battle being waged by Palestinian families to stop the takeover of their neighbourhood in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers has received a major fillip from the recent souring of relations between Israel and Turkey.
After the Israeli army’s assault on the Gaza Strip in January, lawyers for the families were given access to Ottoman land registry archives in Ankara for the first time, providing what they say is proof that title deeds produced by the settlers are forged.
On Monday, Palestinian lawyers presented the Ottoman documents to an Israeli court, which is expected to assess their validity over the next few weeks. The lawyers hope that proceedings to evict about 500 residents from Sheikh Jarrah will be halted.
The families’ unprecedented access to the Turkish archives may mark a watershed, paving the way for successful appeals by other Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank caught in legal disputes with settlers and the Israeli government over land ownership.
Interest in the plight of Sheikh Jarrah’s residents peaked in November when one couple, Fawziya and Mohammed Khurd, were evicted from their home by an Israeli judge. Mr Khurd, who was chronically ill, died days later.
Meanwhile, Mrs Khurd, 63, has staged a protest by living in a tent on waste ground close to her former home. Israeli police have torn down the tent six times and she is facing a series of fines from the Jerusalem municipality.
The problems facing Mrs Khurd and the other residents derive from legal claims by the Sephardi Jewry Association that it purchased Sheikh Jarrah’s land in the 19th century. Settler groups hope to evict all the residents, demolish their homes and build 200 apartments in their place.
The location is considered strategic by settler organisations because it is close to the Old City and its Palestinian holy places.
Unusually, foreign diplomats, including from the United States, have protested, saying eviction of the Palestinian families would undermine the basis of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The help of the Turkish government has been crucial, however, because Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire when the land transactions supposedly took place.
Israel and Turkey have been close military and political allies for decades and traditionally Ankara has avoided straining ties by becoming involved in land disputes in the occupied territories. But there appears to have been an about-turn in Turkish government policy since a diplomatic falling-out between the two countries over Israel’s recent Gaza operation.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, accused his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, of “lying” and “back-stabbing”, reportedly furious that Israel launched its military operation without warning him. At the time of the attack, Turkey was mediating peace negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Days after the fighting ended in Gaza, Mr Erdogan stormed out of a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, having accused Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, of “knowing very well how to kill”.
According to lawyers acting for the Sheikh Jarrah families, the crisis in relations has translated into a greater openness from Ankara in helping them in their legal battle.
“We have noticed a dramatic change in the atmosphere now when we approach Turkish officials,” said Hatem Abu Ahmad, one of Mrs Khurd’s lawyers. “Before they did not dare upset Israel and put us off with excuses about why they could not help.”
He said the families’ lawyers were finally invited to the archives in Ankara in January, after they submitted requests over several months to the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem and the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Officials in Turkey traced the documents the lawyers requested and provided affidavits that the settlers’ land claims were forged. The search of the Ottoman archives, Mr Abu Ahmad said, had failed to locate any title deeds belonging to a Jewish group for the land in Sheikh Jarrah.
“Turkish officials have also told us that in future they will assist us whenever we need help and that they are ready to trace similar documents relating to other cases,” Mr Abu Ahmad said. “They even asked us if there were other documents we were looking for.”
That could prove significant as the Jerusalem municipality threatens a new campaign of house demolitions against Palestinians. Last week, Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the recent issuing of dozens of demolition orders in Jerusalem “ethnic cleansing”.
Palestinian legal groups regularly argue that settlers forge documents in a bid to grab land from private Palestinian owners but have great difficulty proving their case.
Late last year the Associated Press news agency exposed a scam by settlers regarding land on which they have built the Migron outpost, near Ramallah, home to more than 40 Jewish families. The settlers’ documents were supposedly signed by the Palestinian owner, Abdel Latif Sumarin, in California in 2004, even though he died in 1961.
The families in Sheikh Jarrah ended up living in their current homes after they were forced to flee from territory that became Israel during the 1948 war. Jordan, which controlled East Jerusalem until Israel’s occupation in 1967, and the United Nations gave the refugees plots on which to build homes.
Mrs Khurd said she would stay in her tent until she received justice.
“My family is originally from Talbiyeh,” she said, referring to what has become today one of the wealthiest districts of West Jerusalem. “I am not allowed to go back to the property that is rightfully mine, but these settlers are given my home, which never belonged to them.”
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sheikh Jarrah residents organize in the face of mass house evictions
Jeff Pickert writing from occupied East Jerusalem, Live from Palestine, 7 April 2009
Source: Electronic Intifada
"We are like the roots of a tree. The Israelis may cut us in places, but we will never die. We will not be transplanted from Jerusalem. I will not leave this house," Maher Hanun tells a crowded room of Palestinian community members supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists. Hanun is one of 51 residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem living in two housing units that are facing imminent eviction by Israeli authorities.
The mood is tense as more than 25 individuals pack into a small room in Hanun's house to plan how to fight the house evictions. Palestinian residents, organized under the Sheikh Jarrah Committee, have invited solidarity activists to come and support their struggle. Internationals from more than 10 countries and Israelis sit in chairs and on the floor as Hanun tells them his story. After his speech, they divide themselves into groups to cover the two threatened housing units. Both the families and the activists gathered in support are determined to stay inside the houses as long as possible when the police arrive to carry out the evictions.
The people living in these housing units, belonging to the al-Ghawe and Hanun families, are due to be forcibly removed from their homes this week, as the papers from the Israeli court they were served with are valid between 15 and 22 March. The courts have justified these evictions by saying that the land that the houses are built on is disputed. Yet, the houses were built under a joint construction project by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956, 11 years before Israel occupied East Jerusalem. The houses were given to the families, both made refugees in 1948 after Palestinians living in what became the state of Israel were expelled and dispossessed during what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe.
Now these families are threatened with another Nakba. Israeli settlers that have moved into Sheikh Jarrah have falsified documents claiming ownership of the land. The Hanun and al-Ghawe families have presented their legitimate documents and an Israeli judge has not yet ruled on the legality of these papers. Yet the eviction orders are still proceeding, even though no official decision has been reached as to whom the Israeli courts recognize as the true owners.
Both the Hanun and al-Ghawe families were forcibly evicted once before in 2002, after which they lived in tents for four months within sight of their former homes. This traumatic experience stands out as a vivid memory even for the children of the families. As they brace themselves to be evicted for the second time, the distress and apprehension in both households is clearly noticeable. Family members have spent many sleepless nights waiting for the police, never knowing exactly which night they will come. Women in the al-Ghawe residence often recount how their small children were thrown from a second floor window by police when they were evicted the last time.
In addition to the al-Ghawe and Hanun families, 25 other households are also threatened with eviction in Sheikh Jarrah, though official orders have not yet been issued by Israeli courts. In November 2008, the al-Kurd family was evicted from their home in the middle of the night despite widespread public support and diplomatic pressure from American and European diplomats on the Israelis to halt the eviction order. The al-Kurd family has erected a protest tent in the middle of Sheikh Jarrah from where they continue to demand the right to return to their homes. The Israeli police have destroyed the tent five times on the grounds that it is an "illegal structure" even though it is built on private Palestinian property.
Now, with the threat of removal again hanging over their heads, community members of Sheikh Jarrah are organizing. "Stop ethnic cleansing" is their main message to the Israeli authorities and the broader international community. These words can be seen on posters hung in the windows of neighborhood shops, on large banners over the entrances to the al-Ghawe and Hanun residences, as well as the T-shirts that organizers have distributed in the community.
This past week has seen a buzz of activity in the neighborhood. The Sheikh Jarrah Committee, supported by the Coalition for Jerusalem, the International Solidarity Movement, and other human rights organizations, have utilized a myriad of tactics to fight the eviction orders. Throughout the week, dignitaries from foreign nations, journalists, consular representatives from numerous European countries, and even Knesset members have all visited the homes and the protest tent to express their support for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah. The committee has held press conferences, demonstrations outside of court hearings and drafted statements condemning the orders.
The community also attempted to host an event as part of the Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture festival at the protest tent on 23 March. Israeli authorities have banned the festival in occupied East Jerusalem, yet organizers have continued to defy the ban in order to celebrate Jerusalem's rich Palestinian heritage. Sheikh Jarrah residents also gathered to protest the impending house evictions in addition to the increased repression of Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. Police violently prevented Sheikh Jarrah residents from praying in front of the tent in conjunction with the festival. Participants were badly beaten and eight people were arrested. The following week, another resident was arrested by police inside the tent for refusing to take down a Palestinian flag hanging inside.
The Sheikh Jarrah Committee members view their struggle against eviction as part of a larger struggle against Palestinian dispossession from East Jerusalem. The nearby neighborhoods of Silwan, Beit Hanina and Shufat refugee camp are also facing large-scale house demolitions and evictions. In the al-Bustaan neighborhood of Silwan alone, 88 houses are slated for demolition. Al-Bustaan residents have erected a protest tent similar to the one in Sheikh Jarrah, and this model of resistance seems to be spreading.
For now, the families and supporting activists wait for the police to come each night. They take shifts to make sure someone is up in each house to alarm the community when the Israeli authorities arrive. Some of the family members have removed all of their furniture in anticipation of the coming raids, but they continue to sleep on mats in the floor. The message is clear: they will not go quietly in the face of this injustice.
Jeff Pickert is an American who has been working in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem for the past four months.
"The residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem are facing eviction following a court decision ruling in favor of radical settlers even though in 2006 it was proven that the documents these settler produced were fake."
Representative from the Abbas office speaking on Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem.
Earlier related News item:
Palestinians benefit as Israel-Turkey ties sour
Jonathan Cook
Source: jkcook.net
Date: March 25. 2009
JERUSALEM // A legal battle being waged by Palestinian families to stop the takeover of their neighbourhood in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers has received a major fillip from the recent souring of relations between Israel and Turkey.
After the Israeli army’s assault on the Gaza Strip in January, lawyers for the families were given access to Ottoman land registry archives in Ankara for the first time, providing what they say is proof that title deeds produced by the settlers are forged.
On Monday, Palestinian lawyers presented the Ottoman documents to an Israeli court, which is expected to assess their validity over the next few weeks. The lawyers hope that proceedings to evict about 500 residents from Sheikh Jarrah will be halted.
The families’ unprecedented access to the Turkish archives may mark a watershed, paving the way for successful appeals by other Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank caught in legal disputes with settlers and the Israeli government over land ownership.
Interest in the plight of Sheikh Jarrah’s residents peaked in November when one couple, Fawziya and Mohammed Khurd, were evicted from their home by an Israeli judge. Mr Khurd, who was chronically ill, died days later.
Meanwhile, Mrs Khurd, 63, has staged a protest by living in a tent on waste ground close to her former home. Israeli police have torn down the tent six times and she is facing a series of fines from the Jerusalem municipality.
The problems facing Mrs Khurd and the other residents derive from legal claims by the Sephardi Jewry Association that it purchased Sheikh Jarrah’s land in the 19th century. Settler groups hope to evict all the residents, demolish their homes and build 200 apartments in their place.
The location is considered strategic by settler organisations because it is close to the Old City and its Palestinian holy places.
Unusually, foreign diplomats, including from the United States, have protested, saying eviction of the Palestinian families would undermine the basis of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The help of the Turkish government has been crucial, however, because Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire when the land transactions supposedly took place.
Israel and Turkey have been close military and political allies for decades and traditionally Ankara has avoided straining ties by becoming involved in land disputes in the occupied territories. But there appears to have been an about-turn in Turkish government policy since a diplomatic falling-out between the two countries over Israel’s recent Gaza operation.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, accused his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, of “lying” and “back-stabbing”, reportedly furious that Israel launched its military operation without warning him. At the time of the attack, Turkey was mediating peace negotiations between Israel and Syria.
Days after the fighting ended in Gaza, Mr Erdogan stormed out of a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, having accused Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, of “knowing very well how to kill”.
According to lawyers acting for the Sheikh Jarrah families, the crisis in relations has translated into a greater openness from Ankara in helping them in their legal battle.
“We have noticed a dramatic change in the atmosphere now when we approach Turkish officials,” said Hatem Abu Ahmad, one of Mrs Khurd’s lawyers. “Before they did not dare upset Israel and put us off with excuses about why they could not help.”
He said the families’ lawyers were finally invited to the archives in Ankara in January, after they submitted requests over several months to the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem and the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Officials in Turkey traced the documents the lawyers requested and provided affidavits that the settlers’ land claims were forged. The search of the Ottoman archives, Mr Abu Ahmad said, had failed to locate any title deeds belonging to a Jewish group for the land in Sheikh Jarrah.
“Turkish officials have also told us that in future they will assist us whenever we need help and that they are ready to trace similar documents relating to other cases,” Mr Abu Ahmad said. “They even asked us if there were other documents we were looking for.”
That could prove significant as the Jerusalem municipality threatens a new campaign of house demolitions against Palestinians. Last week, Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the recent issuing of dozens of demolition orders in Jerusalem “ethnic cleansing”.
Palestinian legal groups regularly argue that settlers forge documents in a bid to grab land from private Palestinian owners but have great difficulty proving their case.
Late last year the Associated Press news agency exposed a scam by settlers regarding land on which they have built the Migron outpost, near Ramallah, home to more than 40 Jewish families. The settlers’ documents were supposedly signed by the Palestinian owner, Abdel Latif Sumarin, in California in 2004, even though he died in 1961.
The families in Sheikh Jarrah ended up living in their current homes after they were forced to flee from territory that became Israel during the 1948 war. Jordan, which controlled East Jerusalem until Israel’s occupation in 1967, and the United Nations gave the refugees plots on which to build homes.
Mrs Khurd said she would stay in her tent until she received justice.
“My family is originally from Talbiyeh,” she said, referring to what has become today one of the wealthiest districts of West Jerusalem. “I am not allowed to go back to the property that is rightfully mine, but these settlers are given my home, which never belonged to them.”
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Bil'in 3.4.2009 - Weekly Demo
Bil'in 3.4.2009:
Two Journalists injured at the weekly Bil'in demonstration
Source: IMEMC
Date: Friday April 03, 2009 16:53
The residents of Bil'in village, located near the central west Bank city of Ramallah, marched towards the wall today after Friday prayers. The protest was joined by Israeli and international activists.
Protesters' banners condemned Israel's ongoing policies and violence against civilians; The protest began in the center of the village then headed towards the Apartheid Wall which is being built on Bil'in's land.
An Israeli army unit stationed behind the wall prevented the crowd from going through the gate and fired tear gas canisters to break up the crowd. Two Journalists were injured, while dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Two Journalists injured at the weekly Bil'in demonstration
Source: IMEMC
Date: Friday April 03, 2009 16:53
The residents of Bil'in village, located near the central west Bank city of Ramallah, marched towards the wall today after Friday prayers. The protest was joined by Israeli and international activists.
Protesters' banners condemned Israel's ongoing policies and violence against civilians; The protest began in the center of the village then headed towards the Apartheid Wall which is being built on Bil'in's land.
An Israeli army unit stationed behind the wall prevented the crowd from going through the gate and fired tear gas canisters to break up the crowd. Two Journalists were injured, while dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Ni'lin 3-4-09 - Friday demonstartion against the wall
Ni'ilin 3-4-09 - Friday demonstartion against the wall:
Six injured, one seriously, in Nil'in [Ni'lin] weekly protest
Source: IMEMC
Date: Friday April 03, 2009 16:51
Scores of villagers from Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with their international supporters held their weekly protest on Friday midday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land.
As soon as locals and international supporters arrived in the part of the village where Israel is building the wall, soldiers showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. They also fired rounds of live ammunition.
Six people were injured including a boy who sustained serious wounds and was moved to a hospital in Ramallah city. Dozens were treated for gas inhalation. Israeli troops attacked the village early on Friday morning and fired tear gas at houses. Local sources said that clashes took place between the invading troops and local youth but no injuries were reported.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Six injured, one seriously, in Nil'in [Ni'lin] weekly protest
Source: IMEMC
Date: Friday April 03, 2009 16:51
Scores of villagers from Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with their international supporters held their weekly protest on Friday midday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land.
As soon as locals and international supporters arrived in the part of the village where Israel is building the wall, soldiers showered them with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. They also fired rounds of live ammunition.
Six people were injured including a boy who sustained serious wounds and was moved to a hospital in Ramallah city. Dozens were treated for gas inhalation. Israeli troops attacked the village early on Friday morning and fired tear gas at houses. Local sources said that clashes took place between the invading troops and local youth but no injuries were reported.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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