New ICAHD Statement, Emergency Demonstrations

For the past several weeks, Israel’s police and paramilitaries, together with violent settlement groups, have escalated their brutal attacks against Palestinians in Jerusalem. Specifically targeted are the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, who face imminent eviction by Israeli settlers, and Ramadan worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque and around the Old City. These localized attacks have further escalated into an all-out military campaign against Gaza, totally besieged since 2006 but unwilling to abandon their brethren in Jerusalem.

This particular round of low-intensity warfare occurs at Ramadan, in which thousands of Muslims converge on Jerusalem. There, the Israeli police violently harass them, demonstrating total Israeli control through sheer force. Bad enough in itself, this tense period collides with the triumphalist celebrations of Israel’s Independence Day and Jerusalem Day, an official “holiday” in which thousands of religious-nationalist settlers come to assert the “Jewishness” of the city. A major component of these “celebrations” is humiliating Jerusalem’s Palestinian inhabitants by marching with large Israeli flags and drums through their Old City quarters, yelling out patriotic songs.

These are not merely “clashes” between “sides” in a symmetrical “conflict” between two peoples. They are rather actions of conquest, political repression and dispossession on the part of Jewish Israelis met with defiant Palestinian reaction. Zionism, a settler colonial movement of the late 19^th century, had a clear and explicit agenda: in the language of the Zionist movement, to Judaize Palestine, to turn an Arab land into a Jewish one; in short, to “cleanse” the country ethnically. At the heart of this project was displacement. Jewish settlers could only assert their exclusive claims of entitlement to the country by driving the indigenous population off the land and taking demographic as well as political control. Ethnic cleansing remains the single-minded preoccupation of modern Israel. It lies at the heart of the attacks and resistance protests in Sheikh Jarrah and the al-Aqsa mosque, as well as in the continued resistance of the people of West Bank, Gaza and even, it appears, Palestinian citizens of Israel who still find themselves displaced and without equal rights. For the full statement see here . All out for Palestine! Global emergency actions planned for Palestine, find one near you

Photo: B. Spiegal - London, 11 May 2021

Around the world, actions are being organized to build support for Palestine as internationals demonstrate their solidarity and call for justice for Palestine. Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, has compiled an extensive list of events so take to the streets and join an action near you. With the Nakba being commemorated on Saturday, 15^th May, demonstrations are happening in many major cities. See the full list of events, which is constantly being updated as new actions are announced! Additional events can be added so contact samidoun@samidoun.net. Our voices must be heard in the corridors of power. We must not stop until Israel’s policy of displacement and ethnic cleansing ends and with equality for all achieved. Atta Jaber's resilience is tested again

Atta Jaber on 5 May 2021 when Israeli police arrive to protect him from settlers.

For over thirty years, their entire married life, Atta and Rudina Jaber and their children have known nothing but oppression and cruelty from Israeli authorities and the extreme religious Jewish settlers from nearby Kiryat Arba in Hebron who covet their land. The valley in which Atta and his neighbours live, though arid, produces much of the West Bank's harvest of grapes and produce. Atta's small farm has been in the family since Ottoman times, but he has lost almost all of it to the settlement and to the busy highway 60 that connects the Israeli settlements of the southern West Bank to Jerusalem.

Besides losing their land and livelihood, the Jaber family has had its home demolished twice by the Israeli authorities, and Atta has been repeatedly jailed and beaten by the police. In December 2000, dozens of settlers invaded their home, evicted the family, spent a peaceful Sabbath in their home protected by the Israeli army and police, then burned the house on their way out and returned to Kiryat Arba undisturbed. In February 2018, the Israeli army destroyed what was left of Atta's farm, forbidding him to ever plant again on Israeli "state land."

The family has been afraid to leave its house empty even to go to a wedding or visit their married children out of fear that as soon as they are gone, settlers will again come to take it over. Indeed, every few months we report on an attack on the family and its home. Now the attacks have reached a lethal level. In the past several weeks, the settlers -- trespassing noisily and provocatively through Atta's property, throwing stones at the house, shouting threats at the family -- have begun the illegal construction of structures just above Atta's property, clearly indicating their intent to extend the settlement over his home and farm. Read the full article here .

View the full Demolition and Displacement Report here .

A man of many talents, Dennis is a musician, playing in a small group, and he has a wonderful way with words, writing long and short pieces and always recording reflections of his trips to Palestine. The entire ICAHD network appreciates the dedication demonstrated by Dennis.

Until now, Israel has drawn on international support, especially of governments, through its weapons/surveillance/security trade, and through its politically effective conflation of antisemitism with antizionism. Israel has disregarded with impunity UN resolutions and conventions on the rights of refugees, apartheid, on international humanitarian law, on collective punishment and torture, on the treatment of children and on the subject ICAHD knows only too well, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the resulting forced displacement of the indigenous Palestinian population.

In Jeff’s latest book, Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State, he reframes Israel as a settler colonial state necessitating a clear political strategy with an endgame of actively decolonizing the whole political structure. In the book, he recognises that the fears of both Israeli Jews and Palestinians will need to be addressed and he raises the usual arguments about what is possible, probable, or impossibly utopian.

Israeli Jews must face-up to the reality that has been created: a racist, apartheid state which is now exploding before them. Palestinians need civil society to push through for them and to articulate that an essential step lies with a unified political strategy of decolonization. This book points out how Israel and the fate of Palestinians are enmeshed in a global order that must change.

Read this book for understanding of what is needed beyond our protests. Be equipped to challenge the rhetoric that is being communicated by much of the media. This is not a conflict between two equal sides who each must issue restraint! Then also order a copy to send to people of influence, including politicians and journalists. The time is now! Due to the escalation of violence that broke out in East Jerusalem, Palestinians requested that we postpone our webinar scheduled for Wednesday, 12^th May. A new date for our next webinar will soon be scheduled.

Saturday, 15 May 7.00pm (UK) Lamentation for the Nakba 2021. Free registration here

Ongoing - Global Emergency Actions for Palestine – find out what is happening near you here . Many are scheduled for 15^th May, including London and locations around the UK. Many thanks for your ongoing support. If you're not already a member of ICAHD UK, please consider joining us 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