Q: What's the deal? Why are you people protesting in Sheikh Jarrah?
A: On the most basic level it is a protest against the eviction of 28 families comprising over 500 human beings, Palestinian refugees who fled to East Jerusalem during the 1948 war and were resettled in the so-called "Shimon Hatzadiq" compound in the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood of Jerusalem by UNRWA (the UN agency for the Palestinian refugees) and the Jordanian government in 1956. Four of these families, over 50 people have already been thrown out into the streets, and their houses have been occupied by Jewish settlers.
Q: That sounds pretty serious. But surely there's more to it than that?
A: Roger that one! The unjust and immoral displacement of human beings, who were already refugees, would be enough of a reason to carry out this struggle. However, the actions that Israeli settlers, with the cooperation of the police, the courts, the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli government are part of something a much bigger plan.
It's all about what they call "establishing Jewish continuity" around the Old City of Jerusalem. The occupation of Sheik Jarrah is part of a series of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian neighbourhoods that encircle the Old City; this includes Sheik Jarrah to the north, the Mount of Olives to the east and Silwan (the so-called "City of David") to the south. The intention is to move Israelis into the area and to move the Palestinians out. It's not about Jews and Arabs living together, and it's not a really great way to make peace.
Q: But I heard that the settlers were legally entitled to the buildings. Even the Israeli Supreme Court vetted that. If that's true it's just a case of property rights, right?
A: Well that's one way of looking at it. The settlers claim that they bought the property from a Jewish fund that bought the property back in the 19th century. In the case of the families already evicted, the Israeli courts agree. Regarding the other houses the courts haven't yet decided whether the documents that the settlers submitted are authentic. But that's only one way of looking at it.
The fact is that Sheikh Jarrah is part of occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. There isn't a single country in the world, aside from Israel (alright, and maybe Micronesia), that accepts Israeli sovereignty there. This calls into question whether an Israeli court decision is legitimate.
But that's not all. In order to make it work the Israelis stacked the legal deck. You might remember that the families here are 1948 refugees. That means that before the 1948 war they lived in what is now Israel. According to Israeli law they forfeited their former houses (in West Jerusalem, for instance) because they weren't living there on September 1, 1948 according to the Israeli "Absentees' Properties Law". However, the Jews that owned the property in Sheikh Jarrah were absent as well on September 1, 1948. East Jerusalem was under Jordanian control then.
Q: So under the "Absentees' Properties Law" the Jews with claims on property in Sheikh Jarrah also forfeited their property in 1948, right?
A: Wrong! It is true that Israeli-owned properties were placed under Jordanian custody following the 1949 armistice. However, following the conquest and annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel in 1967, Israelis were allowed to reclaim these properties, or alternatively were given generous compensation by the Israeli government in case their properties were expropriated for public purposes. On the other hand, properties in Israel according to the 1949 armistice (inside the "Green Line") by Palestinian refugees remained under the auspices of the Absentees' Properties Law. Thus, the Israeli law applies a double standard, one which gives rights to Israeli Jews and denies them the Palestinians.
Q: This all sound pretty serious. So who are you people and what are you doing?
A: We’re a group of mostly young activists, mainly from Jerusalem who began to come to Sheikh Jarrah a few months ago to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian families. When we saw that settlers use their Friday afternoon prayers to heckle and attack the residents, we began showing up ourselves. Soon, we began staging weekly demonstration in cooperation with the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood committee. Despite the fact that the police tried to silence the protests by declaring them illegal and arresting over a hundred demonstrators, Hundreds of activists now take part in these demos which have rapidly grown into one of the main focal-points of the Israeli dissent movement.
Q: What can I do?
A: If you’re in Israel, come join us. We hold tours of the neighborhood, and demonstrate each Friday. We also need volunteers to maintain a constant presence with the Palestinian residents, in order to discourage attacks by settlers and the police.
Q: Well actually, I'm not in Israel. So what can I do to help abroad?
A: Well here are a couple of ideas:
Sheikh Jarrah is full of foreign consulates. The American and British Consulates are in walking distance of the compound. So send e-mail/faxes etc. to your political representatives to encourage them to send protests to Israel about what's going on. Oh yeah, and try to get those people from the consulates to be more active about what's going on in their very backyard.
Second, if you're in a city that has an Israeli consulate or embassy, help organize a demo in front of the mission to raise the issue. Even better, do it on Friday, at the same time that we demonstrate in Sheikh Jarrah.
In order to make the protest more personal, we urge you, or better yet, the group that you're part of to adopt one of the families. Send them letters of support for their struggle. Publicize their situation with your local press and political representatives. Get the message out that these are real people who are being screwed over.
Finally, we are all volunteers and the legal work and resources for this struggle cost money. Please donate.