Palestine News Network (PNN) : "Amidst settlement expansion and increases in evictions and demolitions, women work for justice" par Sona Arouri

Amidst settlement expansion and increases in evictions and demolitions, women work for justice

28.08.09 - 00:56

Jerusalem / Sona Arouri - The Jerusalem Center for Women is among tens of groups working to save Jerusalem from being entirely overtaken and its Palestinian character destroyed.

A new plan to build 104 Israeli housing units in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras Al Amud will further displace the 14,000 Palestinians currently living there.

The occupying Israeli administration recently served 55 families in Ras Al Amud with demolition notices in order to make way for the new settlement. Once completed, the settlement will be called Ma’ale David, and will be connected to the existing settlement of Ma’ale Zeitim, forming the largest Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem.

Mariam Ikermawi, Director of the Jerusalem Center for Women, lives in Ras Al Almud. In regards to the plans for the new settlement, Ikermawi says she is terrified.

“Sooner or later I feel there will be no more Palestinians in East Jerusalem,” she stated today.

Ikermawi’s family is originally from Ein Karem, which is now within the boundaries of Israeli territory. Her family left their Ein Karem home in 1948 with the intentions of returning as soon as it was safe.

However, denied the right to return, part of her family was resettled in East Jerusalem, while others were resettled throughout the Diaspora.

While Ikermawi’s family has not received a notice for eviction or demolition, she feels the threat is real for all East Jerusalemites. “I prefer to die in my house than to leave. This time, we won’t make the mistake of leaving,” she said.

The plan to build the new units in Ras Al Amud comes at a time of great insecurity for all Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. Recently, Netanyahu issued a statement claiming that Israeli construction in East Jerusalem was off the table. The statement, which was made in regards to international pressure to halt settlement growth in the occupied Palestinian territory, comes after a steep rise in the number of eviction and demolition notices issued in East Jerusalem.

In the beginning of August, two families were forcibly evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. The homes were then occupied by Israeli settlers. Members of the two families evicted have filed separate appeals, which are still pending. Since the eviction date, the two families have been sleeping in tents outside their former homes.

In a separate incident this month, Israeli settlers overtook a Palestinian home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Over the course of the past few months, 88 families in Silwan have received notices for eviction and demolition. The Jerusalem municipality, which is under Israeli authority, has also announced plans to bulldoze part of Silwan in order to build a park for an adjacent settlement.

Last week in the Old City, Israeli police broke the locks to one of the doors to Al Aqsa Mosque, attempting to replace them with new locks to which only they held the key.

In an unprecedented move, far-right Israeli religious groups have subsequently broken in to Al Aqsa on two separate occasions this week, marking the first time that Jewish groups have entered Al Aqsa during the holy month of Ramadan.

Most recently in the Old City, two families were forced to demolish their own house yesterday. The family faced a fine of 80,000 NIS (roughly 20,000) if they did not comply.

In light of these events, the Jerusalem Center for Women is mounting a campaign in in which it is urging the international community to take a “Jerusalem First” focus. JCW spokespeople say they feel that the issues facing East Jerusalemites should be pushed to the front of the peace process, not left for final status negotiations.

JCW writes: “Eviction, demolition, and settlement building in East Jerusalem must be seen as part of a wider Israeli political plan to remove the Jerusalem issue from the negotiating table by laying claim to a Judaized East Jerusalem with a demographic advantage of Israelis to Palestinians.”

Currently, there are 260,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, an overwhelming majority of who are refugees, in comparison to 200,000 Israeli settlers who are illegally residing in the Palestinian designated area of East Jerusalem.

In addition to evictions, demolitions, and settlement expansion, the process of Judaizing Jerusalem can be seen through the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestine through the Wall, Israeli restrictions on building permits for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, restrictions on residency and family reunification, and a decrease in municipal services for East Jerusalemites.

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