[Palestine] East Jerusalem:Threat of Violence and Eviction

This past week MPTers spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights providing international presence at a home that is currently under an eviction order in the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem has been one of the most controversial issues in the Israel/Palestine conflict since both Palestinians and Israelis want the city for their capital. According to an article in Haaretz, the United States government includes Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem when calling for a freeze on settlements.

This particular home, which houses three families, has had an eviction order for 37 years and is continuously involved in court proceedings. Shortly after the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, an Israeli settler organization presented the owners of this home with what the Israeli Court has now proven to be falsified documents from the Ottoman Empire claiming the land. This house is one of the homes that the U.N. built along with the Jordanian government for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. Although the owner is not a political activist, he told MPT that this issue has affected him his whole life and he is determined to keep the home that he and his three children were born in. The family has decorated the front of the home with banners proclaiming, “We will never leave our home”.

In the past months, the eviction order deadline has become imminent and so internationals have been keeping a continuous presence since March, at the request of the family. Internationals provide support and a peaceful presence to de-escalate the continuous settler attacks and harassment. Israeli police, including undercover officers, habitually drive by the home, intensifying the fear of eviction. Since the home could be demolished at any time, the family must always be present and on alert. This house is just one of the 28 homes under the threat of eviction and demolition by Israel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. One of the homes has already been demolished.

While MPTers were present at the home, an intoxicated settler came to the house and attempted a forced entry. The owners of the house told him to stay away while internationals positioned themselves around the rest of the house to ensure that he could not enter. The settler kept asking about the signs on the home while trying to look inside. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians from their homes in order to occupy the property. The settler eventually left.

This tent is inhabited by a family that was evicted from their home and is now harassed by settlers

A half an hour later, MPTers and other internationals were notified that the same settler had gone to a nearby tent that is now the home of a Palestinian woman who has been evicted from her house. The settler attacked the woman with a rock, hitting her over the head. An ambulance was called after she went unconscious for sometime. MPT was informed the next night that all the local hospitals and doctors refused to treat her unless she would change her story, and not speak of any settler attacking her. This woman is now suffering from internal swelling in her head, along with constant head pressure.

The first night MPTers stayed the night, a car of 3-4 young settler boys, aged 14-16, drove by at 4am, stopping in front of the house and throwing objects at the family, yelling and making obscene hand gestures. Approximately two hours later, local municipality officials stopped in front of the home to harass and intimidate the family.

The second night MPTers stayed at the house, unidentified police officers pulled up to the house, stopped, got out, and talked amongst themselves, intimidating the family.  No arrests or evictions occurred while MPT was in Sheikh Jarrah.

[Palestine] Assira Qibiliya: Sound bombs, teargas and Settlers Attack

MPT received a call from Zakiraya, MPT’s Palestinian contact person, that settlers from the Yitzhar settlement and its nearby illegal outpost Shalhevet Yitzhar were attacking the village of South Assira. At 7 pm 50 settlers came into the village followed fifteen minutes later by another 100 settlers. Villagers explained that the settlers started a few small fires in the hills of the village while settlers later told news reporters that the villagers started the fire and the settlers came down from their settlement to put out the fires (See http://www.ynetnews.com and http://www.uruknet.info). MPT witnessed the fires but arrived after the settlers had returned to their settlement, therefore MPT was not present at the time the fires were initially started but did see that fires were started on Palestinian land used specifically for the growing of crops.

MPT arrived at the same time as the Israeli Army. A large crowd of villagers had gathered at the top of the hill near one particular house that has been repeatedly targeted by the settlers. The Israeli Army fired several sound bombs and teargas canisters to disperse the crowd, both of which MPT witnessed.

After 15 minutes of continuous firing, the effects of the teargas forced the villagers to take cover behind the targeted house. At that time, the Army descended from the hill approaching the group but continuing to fire, therefore forcing those Palestinians who had moved forward in order to speak to the soldiers to retreat once again. Finally, the soldiers ceased firing on the crowd at which point one of the Palestinians from the village asked MPT members, as internationals, to go to the front of the crowd with their cameras to encourage the soldiers to back away from the house. Two MPTers were able to get to the front where eight soldiers had lined up facing the crowd, with another ten soldiers behind them. Once the soldiers saw internationals with cameras they immediately backed away wherein village leaders were able to talk to the Israeli DCO (District Commanding Officer), the same DCO officer that MPT saw at the vandalized home in Burin. After fifteen minutes of conversation between villagers and the Israeli DCO the crowd began to disperse and the soldiers retreated up the hill. MPT was told that the soldiers, who are not always present at each settlement, would be staying near Yitzhar and Shalhevet Yitzhar for the next two to three days to monitor the situation. The Israeli DCO also spoke to the mother of the targeted house and asked her to call him directly if she experienced any further problems from the settlers.

MPT remained at the house where a family of six people, four of them children under the age of ten, and many other villagers explained how this house and the village have experienced settler harassment for the past few years. The mother of the family had footage of the settlers who had come down earlier in the evening with automatic weapons firing live ammunition.

This picture was taken while the army was firing sound bombs right outside this young girl's home

The family explained that settlers come down every Friday and Saturday to harass the village with increased and surprise attacks during the weekdays over the past three months. The settlers have set a fire on the patio of the previously mentioned house, spray painted the Star of David on the outside walls, and shot at their front window in the middle of the night. Before leaving MPT gave out contact cards so that the family and other villagers could call if they experienced any more harassment. Additionally members of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in nearby Nablus came after the settlers and army left and stayed overnight with the family in case of further attacks.

Stars of David spray painted on side of home