“We must not stand by quietly”: A Call to Resist Eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem Homes
As establishment media outlets continue to focus on state-level diplomatic theatrics and speculate about what the incoming Biden administration will mean for US policy in the Middle East, what is lost is the reality that Palestine remains a place of active anti-colonial struggle. It is more important now than ever to lift up the voices of Palestinians who are on the front lines of this struggle so that the world can understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what needs to happen.
The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem is one place where Palestinians are actively resisting Israeli attempts to remove them, remake the city, and continue carrying out the wider Zionist project of settler colonization. The organized attempts to evict Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah have been going on for years, as this 2019 profile of one family’s long struggle illustrates.
On November 13, 2020, local activist Mohammed El-Kurd issued an urgent statement regarding the imminent eviction of a group of Palestinian families, including his own, in Sheikh Jarrah. In an Instagram post on the same day, he wrote, “I’m infuriated and despondent but must get the word out. Israel is reminding us that the Nakba is far from over, wiping us out from our native homeland in real time.”
11/13/2020 Instagram post from @mohammedelkurd
Below is the full statement from El-Kurd, issued from New York, where he is currently stuck due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. But first, some important context:
My Neighbourhood
Directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi and released by Just Vision, My Neighbourhood is an award-winning 2012 documentary that tells the story of local resistance to the confiscation of Palestinian lands and homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
The full film is available for screening on Just Vision’s website.
A Lack of Media Attention
“While the cases in Sheikh Jarrah are thinly veiled as a legal matter, the political motivations are clear,” writes Just Vision’s Suhad Babaa. “This latest round of evictions is part of a broader attempt by the Israeli state to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The process is methodical and impacts thousands of lives on a daily basis.”
These processes of everyday Israeli colonization and Palestinian resistance rarely find their way into daily newspapers or news broadcasts in the US. For example, a simple search on the website of National Public Radio (NPR) reveals that Sheikh Jarrah has not been mentioned in NPR’s news coverage since 2011, when correspondent Lulu Garcia-Navarro reported on Israel’s demolition of a popular East Jerusalem hotel.
Outside of the settler colonial echo chamber that is the US establishment media system, however, there is ample contextual information available from local journalists and human rights groups on the ground:
+972 Magazine, “After a decade, evictions set to return in Sheikh Jarrah” (2018)
B’tselem, East Jerusalem
Adalah, ”Dispossession and Eviction in East Jerusalem” (2009)
As Babaa notes, the US media blackout cannot be separated from the reality of US policy: “This all happens under the United States’ watch - subsequent US administrations have done little to hold the Israeli government to account, and the latest administration has given a carte-blanche for unjust activity like this.”
A Call to Action
From: Mohammed El-Kurd
Subject: Critical Update from Sheikh Jarrah
Date: November 13, 2020 at 2:58:46 PM EST
Hello friends,
I'm reaching out because my family’s home in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, is facing the imminent danger of forced, legally baseless eviction by the Israeli government and settler organizations, alongside 11 other families.
On the 22nd of October, the Israeli magistrate court ruled to evict four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah—Jaouni, Iskafi, al-Qasim, and my own. The Israeli court also ruled that each family must pay 70,000 shekels in fines and fees to cover the Israeli settlers' legal expenses. This ruling means that on November 21st, we will lose our homes. Our lives hang in the balance as the Israeli courts determine whether they will hear our appeal.
The Israeli court has continually refused to discuss the land ownership or interrogate the validity of the settler organizations' claims on a legal technicality. As a result, the court has disregarded documents demonstrating Palestinian ownership of the land, which pre-date those provided by the settler organizations. The likelihood that our appeal will change the current outcome is extremely low.
As some of you may already know, Israeli settlers—backed by Israeli courts and police—have been relentless in stealing our homes in Sheikh Jarrah for decades. Sheikh Jarrah was built in 1956 by UNRWA and Jordanian government after families like mine were made refugees in the Nakba. In 2009, the homes of Ghawi and Hannoun families, as well as half of my home, were taken by settlers under the protection of the Israeli military and police. Today, a total of 12 out of the remaining 24 Palestinian families who live in Sheikh Jarrah are on the brink of homelessness (87 persons, including 30 children).
I've been on the phone with my parents a few times since I heard the news. Their response is like that of tens of thousands of Palestinians facing dispossession: we won't leave. But this resilience isn't enough to keep their roofs over their heads. We must act fast.
As we know, the Israeli judicial system is created by and for Israeli settlers that benefit endlessly from Israel's settler-colonial regime. Our lawyers are doing the best they can, but the courts are stacked against us despite our historical ties to the land.
In my brief twenty-two years, I have seen Palestine dwindle in size and spirit: countless families displaced, homes demolished, and entire communities reduced to nothing. This cannot be the fate of Sheikh Jarrah.
That is why I am asking you to help ensure that my community is not erased in silence. For those of you who are well-connected with journalists, editors, and other people of influence, I ask that you share this information to spotlight this urgent situation. I’m happy to provide data and background information on Sheikh Jarrah and answer questions or be connected with media outlets.
We are witnessing Israel wipe out all Palestinian presence from Jerusalem in real-time. We must not stand by quietly.
Sincerely,
Mohammed El-Kurd
