2) Why? Because Israeli courts have ruled that Israeli settlers can move into Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem. These Palestinian families have been living here for decades since 1956.
3) All Israeli settlements, built on stolen Palestinian land, are illegal under international law.
Sheikh Jarrah has long been coveted by Israeli settlers. In 2009, settlers evicted three families from their homes in the neighborhood.
4) Today, more than 200 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah face forced eviction.
Israeli settlers want to take over all of Sheikh Jarrah to strengthen their hold over occupied Jerusalem, where Palestinians are denied equal rights.
5) Israeli forces brutalized Palestinians protesting against the impending eviction of the four families in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem.
Here an Israeli soldier has his knee on a Palestinian’s neck.
6) The families defending their homes from settlers have been met with violence from Israeli forces and settlers.
Photo credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP
7) This is part of a wider Israeli push to change the demographic of Jerusalem by removing all Palestinians and replacing them with Israeli Jewish settlers.
8) Israeli settlers, with the support of the Israeli government, are once again making Palestinians homeless.
When will we seek actual accountability for these ongoing human rights violations?
THREAD: Last night, Israeli forces terrorized thousands of Palestinian worshipers, unleashing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades inside Al Aqsa Mosque. Over 200 Palestinians were injured, including 88 who were hospitalized. One Palestinian lost an eye.
The armed invasion of Muslims’ holiest site in Jerusalem came towards the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.
Palestinians stayed at Al Aqsa after prayers to protest against Israeli plans to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
THREAD: During the 1st intifada (Palestinian uprising) against Israel’s cruel & violent occupation, Israel set up military-manned barriers to Palestinian movement within the occupied West Bank & Gaza. These barriers, or military checkpoints, have only increased in number since.
The primary purpose of these checkpoints is to facilitate Israel’s illegal takeover of the occupied Palestinian territories, serving as a tool of control and oppression to deny Palestinians the ability to live freely on their own land.
Since they were first erected by Israel, checkpoints have served to suffocate, humiliate, & collectively punish millions of Palestinians. Currently, there are nearly 600 Israeli military checkpoints & other physical barriers to Palestinian movement in the occupied West Bank.
🚨IN MAY, FOUR PALESTINIAN FAMILIES WILL BE FORCED OUT OF THEIR HOMES. #SaveSheikhJarrah: Advocates are calling on you to sign this petition & call your elected reps to demand an end to Israel’s settlement expansion in #Jerusalem. @SecBlinken@HadyAmr 👇 bit.ly/StopJerusalemE…
🚨#StopJerusalemExpulsions: In the Silwan neighborhood of Al -Bustan, 105 houses, representing 1550 Palestinians, are facing home demolition as soon as May 11th to make way for King David Park tourist site. Advocates want you to sign this petition:
The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (#JDA) was just released as a response to the incoherent and erroneous IHRA definition of antisemitism -- the one being weaponized to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights -- and here is our quick take on it: jerusalemdeclaration.org
The JDA is a serious improvement over the IHRA definition. Whereas the IHRA definition is a tool used by Israeli apartheid apologists to smear Palestinian rights advocates with false charges of antisemitism, the JDA defends Palestinian rights advocacy from these smears.
As we’ve always said, describing Israel as a settler-colonial apartheid state is a basic acknowledgement of reality. We also insist that opposing Zionism and supporting boycotts of Israel are pro-justice positions. The JDA affirms that none of these is antisemitic.
The ICC decision to investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories was met with ire by US State Dept officials who claim that the ICC is unfairly targeting Israel, but @StateDeptSpox refuses to answer where else Palestinians should turn for justice.
This is not the first time the United States has stepped in to shield Israel from the consequences of its illegal and reprehensible actions against Palestinians. Time and time again, the US has vetoed UN resolutions meant to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.
When Palestinians turned to peaceful protest via the BDS movement, the US mislabeled the movement as hateful and antisemitic. Several states passed legislation to ban BDS, and both political parties quickly condemned BDS and BDS supporters.
During the current Israeli election campaign, PM Netanyahu once again made a deal to help elect overt racists & fascists to Israel’s parliament in exchange for their support.
Among them, followers of the late Meir Kahane, whose Kach party is considered a terrorist organization by the US because of violent attacks carried out by its members. imeu.org/article/meir-k…
As a member of Israel’s parliament in the 1980s, Kahane proposed a set of racist laws calling for Palestinians & other non-Jews to be enslaved or forcibly deported & strict racial segregation with severe penalties for violators. The proposed laws read in part: