Why We’re Concerned About Sheikh Jarrah, and Why You Should Be too

Jeremy Siegman, an activist in the Sheikh Jarrah movement, explains why the violent evictions of Palestinian residents from their homes in the Sheikh Jaraah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and the immediate takeover of these homes by extremist Jewish-Israeli settlers,  must be of concern to all who seek peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians.

We are the non-violent, grass-roots protest movement of Israelis, Palestinians, and internationals concerned about Sheikh Jarrah. Sheik Jarrah is a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

We are concerned because since August, 3 families of Palestinian refugees have been evicted from their homes there, with extremist Jewish Israeli settlers moving in immediately. In one case, a family’s belongings were literally thrown onto the street in the rain as the settlers moved in with police escort. The families—Hanoun, al-Kurd, and al-Ghawi, totaling about 60 people—were 1948 refugees from Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other parts of what is now Israel. They were part of a group of 28 families settled in Sheikh Jarrah in 1956 by UNRWA and the Jordanian government, and have lived there ever since.

We are concerned because the Hanoun, al-Kurd, and al-Ghawi families have been made refugees for a second time. And no one is offering them their old homes in Haifa or West Jerusalem. Instead they are living in the street and in tents that the Jerusalem Municipality has repeatedly torn down. The settlers have private security paid for by the Israeli government, and harass and attack the Palestinian families almost daily. [See video below showing settler threatening Nasser al-Ghawi with M-16 at demonstration in February.]  The Israel Police seldom takes any action against them. In fact, instead of cracking down on the violent attacks by settlers, the Israel Police have arrested almost 100 non-violent protestors, trampling on the right to protest.

We are concerned about a system that gives pre-1948 ownership rights to Jews, but not to Arabs. The settlers in Sheikh Jarrah have produced documents from the Ottoman period showing that in the late 19^th century, a Jewish community existed in the area of Sheikh Jarrah (see Ir Amim’s summary). The veracity of the settlers’ documents is unclear, but the political motivations are crystal. Sheikh Jarrah is part of a chain of planned or existing Israeli-Jewish settlements in the heart of Arab neighborhoods to the east of the Old City—Silwan, Ra’as el-Amud, at-Tur, and others. This is a strategic move to block a potential political agreement over Jerusalem at this critical juncture. And it is part of Israel’s policy of “Judaizing” East Jerusalem, a term used by government officials themselves.

So if you’re concerned about Jerusalem—

if you’re concerned about the Hanouns, al-Ghawis, and al-Kurds on the street—

if you’re concerned about peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians—

then you too should be concerned about Sheikh Jarrah.

Video from the recent protests of thousands at Sheikh Jarrah here: