Thread by @tha_rami

I don't know how anyone can bear to know, even vaguely, what is happening in Palestine, what is happening in Nablus, what is happening Sheikh Jarrah and not speak up. How can my Arab timeline be on fire & the Western one so quiet. I can't sleep over this. #SaveSheikhJarrah

Palestinian people living in Palestinian houses on Palestinian land, land assigned by international law, have routinely come home to find a foreign family living in their houses. If they tried to fight, they got shot at. If they stayed in the house, they got shot at.

Now, in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in Palestinian "Occupied East Jerusalem" - named that way because it is legally Palestinian but Israel didn't care and took it anyway, once again several families face eviction by the Israeli courts.

This is nothing new. This is a UN document describing the theft of Palestinian houses in Sheikh Jarrah in 2010. There is a woman who continues to stand in front of the house she built with her own hands decades ago as an Israeli family lives in it.

un.org/unispal/docume…

This is also not unique to Sheikh Jarrah. Illegal theft of housing and illegal settlements built by Israel on Palestinian lands continues with impunity, despite UN objections, despite human right objections, despite international law, and despite the people living there already.

This whole situation: a young innocent boy shot dead, Palestinian lands & cars burned, hundreds Palestinians injured, the Al Aqsa mosque -one of the holiest sites in Islam- desecrated during Friday Ramadan prayer with military boots and tear gas grenades and stun grenades...

Because protest is not tolerated. And when the protest moves online, the hashtag is "hidden" because "it doesn't comply with community standards". Yeah, seeing a man with his eyes shot out isn't pleasant but where else do they go when mainstream media doesn't report on it?

A woman crying in front of her own house, sushed by the foreign man twice her size that now lives in it isn't very "Instagram" but it is true.

The corpse of a young boy shot in the back twice for having the misfortune of walking to his town at that time isn't very Twitter-friendly, but it is true.

The already disproven military cover story that he was carrying molotov cocktails somehow spreads openly. That's "news".

And the four families? They'll be evicted. They always will be. The UN will say that it is unacceptable, and nothing happens. The US will say "both sides" need to resolve the situation, while funding the settlements.

Al Aqsa smells of tear gas tonight, and the world looks away.

And many who see it that would speak up if a fraction of this injustice were to occur in the West will stay quiet. Because the situation is "complicated". Because the lands are "contested". Because they "can't find sources". Because the cries are in Arabic, not in English.

What's happening to Palestine isn't a war crime. There is no war. There is a military waging war against people praying. There is a military evicting people from their homes. There is a military shooting kids. There is a military watching when thieves burn houses & property.

Are you really going to be silent, or are you going to at least speak up & share what is happening with the world? The hashtag is #SaveSheikhJarrah. Don't just read this and nod, don't just retweet the thread.

Read up, then quote-retweet or write a new tweet. Type it yourself.

As someone perfectly said it: if you haven't seen news or RTs on your timeline about the atrocities the Palestinians face in Occupied East Jerusalem, in Nablus, at Al-Aqsa mosque, in Sheikh Jarrah, please please please be the one to start that conversation. #SaveSheikhJarrah