Stop evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah - Occupied Jerusalem!

The people of Sheikh Jarrah are being ordered to leave houses they have owned for over sixty years - homes that were built for them by the UN. The people of Sheikh Jarrah have been fighting a settler company and Israel’s discriminatory laws for years, and are the face of Israel's campaign to replace Palestinians with Israeli settlers in Jerusalem. Join the chorus calling for action – Australia must speak up.

A settler company, Nahalat Shimon, based in Delaware USA, has filed dozens of eviction lawsuits in Israeli courts against families in Sheikh Jarrah– 500 people in total are facing ...

The people of Sheikh Jarrah are being ordered to leave houses they have owned for over sixty years - homes that were built for them by the UN. The people of Sheikh Jarrah have been fighting a settler company and Israel’s discriminatory laws for years, and are the face of Israel's campaign to replace Palestinians with Israeli settlers in Jerusalem. Join the chorus calling for action – Australia must speak up.

A settler company, Nahalat Shimon, based in Delaware USA, has filed dozens of eviction lawsuits in Israeli courts against families in Sheikh Jarrah– 500 people in total are facing the threat of eviction. 8 families, representing 87 people have already been issued eviction orders by Israeli courts. On May 9, 2021, the Supreme Court postponed an appeal by the families, which will be heard within the month.

East Jerusalem has been living under Israeli military Occupation since 1967. The international community has demanded Israel withdraw from these territories, but they have not. In fact Israel is transferring more Jewish people into occupied areas, expressly forbidden by the Geneva Conventions. Towards their aim of a Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem, Israel administers discriminatory laws, policies and residency rights. This is one of the reasons that major human rights groups like Human Rights Watch and B’tselem (an Israeli NGO) are calling this apartheid.

And right now the people of Sheikh Jarrah are paying the price.

UN human rights bodies, the EU, the UK, the US State Department and many human rights groups have called on Israel to stop any moves towards eviction. But Australia's response has been weaker, couched in a calling on 'all parties' to refrain from provocations.

Will you stand with Sheikh Jarrah residents and call for Australia to speak out strongly?

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Email your MP's and political leaders

Email your local MP and political leaders – Australia must not be silent while Palestinians are being forced out of Jerusalem to make way for new Jewish settlers.

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Subject:

I write to you about 87 Palestinians who have been ordered to leave their homes in Jerusalem that they have owned for over 60 years.   This is the injustice that has sparked the current protests in Palestine.

I implore you to speak up and to ask our Government to call on the Israeli government to abide by International Law and stop these evictions.

In the face of the current eviction orders, the UK Government has said they “urge Israel to cease such evictions”, the US Department of State said, “We are also deeply concerned about the potential eviction of Palestinian families” and the European Union “The Israeli authorities should cease these activities and provide adequate permits for legal construction and development of Palestinian communities.”

Jerusalem was proposed, by the UN in 1947, to be a shared international city, and under the two state solution, the expected capital of both Palestine and Israel.   However following Israel’s illegal occupation and subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem, Israel has claimed the entire city and surrounds as its “eternal and undivided capital”, explicitly setting a goal of a Jewish majority for the city and implementing residency and planning laws that discriminate against Palestinians.

Israel is forbidden, under the Fourth Geneva Conventions, from moving its population into occupied territories.  However currently around 200,000 settlers live in settlements that have been mostly built either entirely or partially on private Palestinian property.

In 1956, 65 years ago, Jordan and the UN worked together to build homes for 27 families, who agreed to waive their refugee status in exchange for ownership of their homes.   People now have lived in these homes for generations.  However Israel subsequently passed a law that allows Jewish people to lodge claims against property owned prior to 1948, a discriminatory law as Palestinians are not able to make such claims.  Palestinians who lost homes and property in 1948 or 1967 have no recourse under Israeli Law for either compensation or a right to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.   The right of return after any war is an inalienable right, reinforced in this case by UN resolution 191.

In recent years, a private company representing settlers, Nahalat Shimon, based in Delaware USA, who has no connection to the original Jewish landowners have filed lawsuits against dozens of families in Sheikh Jarrah which are in various stages of court hearings.   Up to 500 people are subjects of their demands for eviction.

In 2009 the first major forced evictions of Palestinians took place in Sheikh Jarrah, with 67 Palestinians forcibly evicted from their homes, and Jewish settlers moved in the same day.  That move was condemned by the US State Department as a violation of Israel’s obligations under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.  The U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said the evictions were "totally unacceptable” and in breach of the Geneva Conventions.

These evictions are unjust and illegal under international law. While the Government did issue a statement decrying evictions, they need to take a much stronger stance to influence the Israeli government as the occupying power to respect international law and protect Palestinians being forcibly displaced from Jerusalem.

Yours truly

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