Launch of video messages, Nakba webinar & demonstration

Actions Bulletin - April 2023 * Watch Jeff Halper’s April update * Sign letter to the UN calling for Protective Force * Read March’s Demolition & Displacement Report * Contact your MP about demolitions * Attend webinar with Francesca Albanese * Don’t miss ICAHD UK’s webinar about the Nakba * Participate in Nakba Day demonstration * Rejoice as Sumreen family not evicted * Mark dates for your diary

Jeff Halper's April Update Photo: Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign. Israeli settlers put up banners stating ‘Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley has a national consensus’. The first of our monthly series of recorded messages from Jeff Halper has been launched and each recording will provide an update about what is happening on the ground in Palestine/Israel.

This month Jeff speaks about the push of international right-wing organisations to change the face of democracy in the world, with Netanyahu and his group leaders in this effort. However, Netanyahu’s agenda has fractured Israeli society and coming to the surface are questions about how Israel can be a democracy with an occupation and apartheid policies. Jeff goes on to speak about the heighten repression of the Palestinians during Ramadan and again calls for the UN to provide protective presence for the Palestinians. View the 14-minute recording (https://youtu.be/8FvO8dVDE5c ) and follow his encouragement to support ICAHD and join us in the struggle.

As Jeff states in his April update, “A protection force would not only protect Palestinians from this increased Israeli repression, but at the same time it would also give them that political space in order to be able to come together around a political programme.”

Connect to ICAHD through our website and social media so that as soon as the letter is ready, you can add your signature and then circulate it amongst your networks. This is a matter of urgency. March Demolition and Displacement Report

Photo: OCHA - 6^th March 2023, Wadi al Joz, East Jerusalem

During just one day on 6th March 2023, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) along with members of the Israel army did the following:

Demolished four houses, one latrine and two water systems in Mantiqat Sh'ib al Butum, Hebron. As a result, four households comprising 26 people including seven children were displaced. All the demolished structures were donor funded and were provided by an international NGO as a response to a previous demolition that happened on 3 January 2023. This is the third demolition incident for these people in the same location since February 2022. The owners did not receive any prior written orders by the ICA.

In Jericho city, they confiscated two mobile homes that were about to be inhabited, affecting two households comprising seven people including three children.

In Az Za’ayyem, a Bedouin community East of Jerusalem along highway 1, three agricultural structures and one animal-related structure were demolished which affected 11 adults and one child from four households.

Also, that day personnel from the Jerusalem municipality along with Israeli forces demolished two houses, built 20 years ago, in Wadi al Joz, East Jerusalem. As a result, five households comprising 19 people including seven children were displaced, and two other households comprising 15 people including a child were affected. Over the years, the families have paid over $55,000 in fines to the Jerusalem municipality.

In each case, the reason given for the demolitions is that the structures had not been issued a building permit. But Israeli authorities rarely grant permits to Palestinians while allowing Israelis to race ahead constructing Jewish settlements, illegal under international law. This is how Israel’s demolitions work by doing a few each day, not making the news and with no governments calling Israel to account for these violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Find maps on the ICAHD website that illustrate the location of Israel’s demolitions of homes and structures vital for living. The maps are prepared on a monthly basis and also included are animated maps that depict the growing numbers of demolitions as the year progresses.

* The end to Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes and the forced displacement of the Palestinian people. + Provide ICAHD’s monthly reports, stories and maps found on the ICAHD website + Demolition alerts are found on our Facebook pages along with some of the latest information * Insist that international law is observed * Call for the establishment of a UN Protection Force for a Palestinian population whose very existence is in immediate peril

For more information about the speakers and to register, go here .

Let us raise our voices on 13^th May to let the Palestinian people know that they are not forgotten and show the UK government that we will not be silent until justice is done. Join this demonstration that will assemble at noon at the headquarters of the BBC, Portland Place, London W1A, and then walk to Whitehall.

To march with the ICAHD UK flags and banner, meet near Café Nero at 273 Regent Street W1B 2EZ and at the corner of Great Castle Street; the nearest tube station is Oxford Circus. Email info@icahduk.org to let us know you will be with us.

Over the years, several NGO’s, local and international, joined in the struggle for justice for the Sumreen family. ICAHD UK also played its part by raising the issue of the Sumreen family through awareness-raising articles, a webinar with the family, fund-raising for legal fees, lobbying initiatives and a meeting involving British parliamentarians chaired by the director of ICAHD UK.

For the full article and additional thoughts from Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Torat Tzedek see here . Dates for your diary

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 – JNP Webinar: with UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, Francesa Albanese – 7 pm (UK). Register here

Wednesday 3 May 2023 – ICAHD USA Webinar: From Zionism to Apartheid: Is the Discourse Shifting? Should It? Mark Braverman (Kairos USA) in conversation with ICAHD USA's Rob Herbst. 12 noon (Eastern) / 5pm (UK). Register here

Wednesday, 10 Mary 2023 – ICAHD UK Webinar: Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonize Israel. 8pm (UK) Jeff Halper in conversation with Eitan Bronstein Aparicioand Eleonore Merza Bronstein. Register here

Saturday, 13 May 2023 – National Demonstration commemorating 75 years of Nakba, central London. Meet near Café Nero W1B 2EZ at 12 noon

Saturday 30 September 2023 - ICAHD UK Annual Conference - Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EAhttps://www.greenbelt.org.uk/- Times and programme to be announced

23 October - 2 November 2023 - ICAHD Extended Study Tour – Details here - applications closed

Many thanks for your ongong support. If you're not already a member of ICAHD UK, please join usor make a donation to enable our campaign to spread at this critical time in history.

From all at ICAHD UK. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140 Facebook https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/ Twitter http://icahduk.org Website mailto:info@icahduk.org Email