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The Only Democracy? » Entries tagged with "Sheikh Jarrah"

New Sheikh Jarrah Video from Just Vision

New Sheikh Jarrah Video from Just Vision

Just Vision, the folks I interned for last spring, are out with, “Home Front is a new series of four video portraits chronicling the resolve of a neighborhood, and the support it receives from the most unexpected of places.” It documents different Israelis and Palestinians involved in the Sheikh Jarrah movement, including a Palestinian teenager whose family who was evicted. TOD’s own Amir Terkel worked on the film. It is a wonderful primer on the … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Ras al-Amud

Ras al-Amud

May 27, 2011 We gather at 4:00 outside the settlers’ multi-story stone building opposite the old police station at Ras al-Amud, on the Mount of Olives. This was the week of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress; if,  utterly  unlikely as this  may be, there is anyone in the  world who failed to notice that he was lying through his teeth, then Wednesday’s official ceremony unveiling the new settlement here in East Jerusalem should be enough to remove the veil. He used the … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Israeli solidarity activist interrogated by police for “incitement”

Israeli solidarity activist interrogated by police for “incitement”

Sara Benninga, whose speech I reposted here on the blog, was interrogated by the police after speaking at the JStreet conference I attended. She provided one of the voices for a new direction for Jewish and Israeli activists working alongside Palestinians for justice. For this she rewarded with an interrogation. From Didi Remez’s facebook page: Sara was interrogated for “incitement” because she made a call for solidarity with the #Jan25 protesters at Tahrir sq. She was also … Read entire article »

Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports

Report from Sheikh Jarrah’s 65th weekly demo

By David Shulman February 11, 2011 Sheikh Jarrah It took the Planning Committee of the Jerusalem City Council less than fifteen minutes to approve plans for the next wave of evictions in Sheikh Jarrah. We knew it was coming. Six large Palestinian families—some fifty souls– are to be expelled from their homes, the houses will be demolished, and thirteen apartment units will then be built for Israeli settlers. We know the families, we know the neighborhood, and we know the meaning and intention of this move, a further step in the ethnic cleansing the government is intent on carrying through in Sheikh Jarrah. They probably feel that this moment, with all eyes focused on Egypt, is a good time to act. Some 90,000 housing units for Jews have been built … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

East Jerusalem update: 1 Palestinian organizer drops his appeal, another arrested

East Jerusalem update: 1 Palestinian organizer drops his appeal, another arrested

By Jesse Bacon Adnan Gheith, whose plight we mentioned earlier, dropped his appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court and will be expelled for four months from East Jerusalem. Ha’aretz reporter Mairav Zonszein linked to that of Jonathan Pollak refusing to plead for mercy in his own case. While it is a travesty that he will have to leave, I am happy he is able to do it on his terms, which should make us all reflect … Read entire article »

Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs

Israeli court welcomes pre-1948 land claims, from Jewish Israelis only

By Jesse Bacon It has been pointed out repeatedly, but now it’s official, the Israeli Supreme Court will accept your pre-1948 claim, if you are Jewish that is. In one of those cases that is a testament to presumably intelligent people’s ability to ignore the larger implications of their actions, the court has been ruling that Jews who left East Jerusalem during the founding of the state of Israel/ Palestinian Nakba/ Catastrophe have a right of return. I hope there are Palestinian refugees filing similar court cases, as many more of them were dispossessed during that time. I would love to hear an Israeli court explain why the Jewish Israelis claims are more valid. Here is the recent Ha’aretz coverage. Sheikh Jarrah has been a bone of contention between Jewish groups – … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discrimination

Sheikh Jarrah Sukkot

September 22, 2010 It may sound unlikely, but we’re in ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan Street in Sheikh Jarrah and, together with Salah and other Palestinian friends from the neighborhood, we’re building a sukkah. The Sukkot holiday, my favorite, starts tonight. Religious Jews build little booths covered with palm fronds and eat and sleep in them for seven nights, a memory of the forty years of wandering in the desert and a reminder of the precariousness of all that exists, all that we value and love. You’re supposed to be able to see the stars through the fronds that provide a make-shift roof; honored guests, beginning with the Patriarchs and ending on day seven with King David, are invited to visit each day. But why build one in Sheikh Jarrah, in the street where … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Summing-up Sheikh Jarrah solidarity day

Summing-up Sheikh Jarrah solidarity day

reprinted from the Just Jerusalem Blog. August 8, 2010. A year has passed since the eviction/expulsion of the Ghawi and Hanoun families from their homes. A year in which we have struggled together, not only in solidarity with the families, but also for the future of us all: against the attempt to bury the possibility for a just solution for our peoples; against the injustice and oppression, which are part and parcel … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

TODAY: Day of Solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah!

Today has been declared a Day of Solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah, and activists from all over Israel will protest the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in this East Jerusalem neighborhood.  What’s happening in Sheikh Jarrah is just one example of the harmful Israeli policy of building settlements in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhoods located in close proximity to the Old City – a policy which is making it harder and harder to imagine how Jerusalem could ever be divided into the capital of two nations, a necessary component of almost every single proposed plan for peace. Israeli activists will hold vigils and protests today in the cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Wadi Ara, Beer-Sheva,  Kfar Yasif,  Gan Shmuel Junction, Tira, Taybe, Raanana, West Jerusalem, and of course, Sheikh … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Sheikh Jarrah, July 9, 2010

Sheikh Jarrah, July 9, 2010

By David Shulman I’ve been thinking about truth. About what the word means, and how we know what it means. This comes in the wake of yesterday’s demonstration, with its by now habitual rituals unfolding in their remorseless, bitter order—the hopeful beginning, the drumming and slogans, the dispossessed Palestinians standing beside us as we chant, the rapid, volatile crescendo, the eventual police attack, and the arrests. Sarah, a young woman of astonishing courage and clarity, was … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports