The United Nations Wednesday called on Israel to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and forced evictions, including in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Speaking during a press conference in New York, the Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, stated: “We are following up closely the situation in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah and the possibility of evicting Palestinians from their homes.”
“It is very important to de-escalate the tension and maintain self-control and tranquillity. We continuously ask the Israeli authorities to put an end to the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and stop evicting Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and anywhere else in the West Bank.”
This came as Israeli police removed a symbolic office set up by a Palestinian activist in the neighborhood and attacked Palestinian activists and supporters who keep a vigil to defend the Palestinian residents against settler attacks.
Police have blocked off the western area of the neighborhood, where the threatened house of the Salem family lies, heavily restricting exit and entry for the fifth consecutive day.
Tensions have been running high in the neighborhood as extreme right-wing Israelis led by lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir set up an office there and announced that the time has come to purge the land, a reference to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Ben Gvir is notorious for being a member of the “Kach” terrorist movement, which carried out many massacres against Palestinians, most notably the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Despite being a prominent member of the terrorist movement, Ben Gvir was not arrested by police and has become a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The neighborhood has become a scene of massive protests against Israel’s settler-colonialism in the occupied territories since the Israeli occupation authorities decided to forcibly expel dozens of families from their houses in favor of colonial settler groups.
Palestinians have maintained that the Israeli occupation authorities decision to “evict” the families from their houses in favor of the settler groups is politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians.
Since the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel in June 1967, Israeli settlers colonial organizations, including Elad and Ateret Cohanim, have claimed ownership of Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Backed by the Israeli state, judiciary and security services, these organizations have been working on wresting control of Palestinian property and convert it into colonial outposts as part of the efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in the city, as well as on managing archaeological sites in Silwan and overseeing their excavation. This scheme involves building new colonial tourist sites, such as the “City of David”, to bolster their propaganda.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)