UN AND OIC MUST INTERVENE TO SAVE SHEKH JARRAH NEIGHBOURHOOD

We call UN and OIC to intervene to save the Palestinian neighbourhood of Syekh Jarrah.

With the proven document of ownership submitted by Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas proving Palestinian ownership of Sheikh Jarrah, the israel attempt to take over neighbourhood must be stopped.

The documents are proof of the Palestinian residents to preserve their full rights to ownership of the homes in Sheikh Jarrah.

The eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah has been part of the israeli policy

At least a dozen Palestinian families living in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, are facing the threat of eviction from their homes.

In October, the Israeli magistrate court of Jerusalem ruled to evict 12 of the 24 Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and to give their homes to Israeli Jewish settlers. The court also ruled that each family must pay 70,000 shekels ($20,000) in fees to cover the settlers’ legal expenses.

The families were given 30 days to file an appeal, but most expressed little hope for a ruling in their favour, saying the Israeli judiciary is no more than an instrument of the Israeli occupation policy of forcibly displacing and erasing the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem.

This is clear ploy to increase control Israel’s ‘silent transfer’ of Palestinians out of Palestine.

Sheikh Jarrah, located on the slopes of Mount Scopus just north of the Old City, is home to 3,000 Palestinians, all refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their homes in other parts of historical Palestine during the 1948 Nakba.

The part where the refugees and their descendants live is marked by bad infrastructue unpaved roads and homes that are in disrepair because the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem prevents any kind of renovation work.

The refugees, 28 families displaced from their homes by Israel, were able to relocate to Sheikh Jarrah in 1956 after Jordan, which had a mandate over the eastern part of Jerusalem, built housing projects for them there.

The United Nations was involved with Jordan to shelter the refugees. However the aggreement to give the ownership to the refugees by Jordan did not happened and by 1967, Israel had captured East Jerusalem.

There is no hope of relying on the Israeli judicial system to protect Palestinian rights.

There is a systematic oppressession, dispossession and displacement of Palestinians.”

Supporting the Palestinian is central and fundamental. The Palestinian struggle is a legitimate struggle to reclaim their rights.

We reiterate that the Jerusalem issue is non-negotiable.

All Israeli measures and attempts to change the Arab, Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem must be resisted strongly.

Any effort that tries to undermine the existing historical and legal status of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem , must be rejected.

The focuss on supporting the Palestinians and ensuring that they achieve their legitimate rights, especially the right to freedom and the independent state is paramount.

The aggression by the israeli settlers to take over the Syekh Jarrah neighbourhood should be seen as an assault on the legal ownership of the place.

Syekh Jarrah neighbourhood is not a case of land dispute. It is a legitimate and well documented neighbourhood of the Palestinians.

UN must intervene to stop the false claim on the neighbourhood by the Jewish authorities.

No demolition or take over of the neighbourhood must be allowed.

UN should announce the legitimacy of the place as belonging to the Palestinians, based on proofs submitted by Jordan.

We call all Muslim leaders and nations to express their support to retain the legitimate status of Syekh Jarrah neighbourhood.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President MAPIM