The madness of Sheikh Jarrah

Sheikh Jarrah is a suburb in East Jerusalem, and a few days ago and on an earlier Friday in March I joined hundreds of people at the weekly demonstrations there. Perhaps surprisingly, most of the protesters are Israelis, and most Jews (that is to say some I spoke to are Israeli but secular). And then there are some Palestinians and a small number of internationals.


At issue: a clear example of the law of the state being immoral and unjust, in this case towards Palestinians. So clear in fact, that thousands of Israelis are ashamed of the actions of the Israeli courts and state towards the Palestinians who are being evicted from their homes, often so that newly arrived settlers from overseas can live in Jerusalem.


The actualities of the process are extremely convoluted, and involve each side going to court and producing documents from the Ottoman era to try and establish ownership - of homes that Palestinian refugees from the 1948 conflict were moved into. That is, once refugees, and now some 60 years later, being evicted again; refugees twice. I will try and summarise it below, but if you really want to explore it further google and/or look up Wikipedia...


What is clear is that Palestinians are being seen as inferior before the law, and Israelis as superior; so clearly in fact that Israeli newspapers, influential and senior Jewish figures here and abroad have condemned the actions to evict several families so far, and the ongoing attempts to evict more. And still people deny there is apartheid at work here . . .


In perhaps the most bizarre situation I've seen here, one Palestinian family built a two or three room extension on their house to cater for the next generation, as happens here all the time. After attempts to evict them on the basis of 'illegal extensions' (despite thousands of Jewish neighbours doing the same), they eventually staved off eviction and instead were handed a massive fine . . . BUT they also had the extension confiscated...


Now three generations of Palestinians live in the original small home, and a radical Jewish settler family has moved into the newer front rooms. They all share the same front gate, and the back porch is divided by a makeshift curtain - enemies (and in this case it really seems that way) - separated by an old rug ... truly bizarre.

Our team visiting the divided home in March - the older part in the foreground, the new settler-occupied extension in the background
...and the dividing rug...  

The Israeli drummers donned pink balaclavas in response to balaclava-clad police arresting many of the protestors the previous week 

1 Comment:

Sojourner said...

And hi to my readers in Senegal, Saudi and Russia - and of course Mexico :)

25 May 2011 00:10