Saturday 9 September 2017:

lecture a

lecture b

Bethlehem

church of nativity

Banksy museum

Saturday 9 September 2017:

The day began with a 9.30am meeting at Dar as-Sadaqah. We made our way to al-Quds University for a lecture about Palestine, the four main domains and the three proposed solutions.

the four main domains were as follows

1) Israeli Control under Civil Law

2) Palestinians living in Jerusalem

3) Military Law governing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza

4) Millions of Palestinians living as refugees

The solutions were as follows

1) One Democratic State Solution

2) Two State Solution

3) Bilateral State Solution

The lecture was interesting and was followed by an hour or so of questions and answers. We then took a lunch break until 1pm at which point we had a round-table discussion based on the lecture. Mutasem Al Nasr facilitated the debate focusing on increasing international pressure on the Israeli government. The topics ranged from social, political and economical pressure from grassroots movements up to lobbying MP's and local governments. Again, it was every interactive with lots of different ideas, views, questions and possible solutions being proposed. 

Following this we got into taxis and made our way to Bethlehem which was a half an hour drive passing a checkpoint on the way. We asked our Palestinian guide if passing a checkpoint still made him nervous and he replied of course it did since they could be wrongly accused for no reason. The Israeli mistreatment is so deep-rooted that people in their mid-fifties still fear passing through checkpoints that they must pass on a daily business.

Upon arriving in Bethlehem, we made our way to the Church of Nativity where Jesus was born. The historical church was bombed in 2002 by Israeli F16 jet-fighters and is still undergoing reconstruction. The church is opposite a mosque and is an example of peaceful co-existence between Christian and Muslim Palestinians. 

Following through the cobbled stoned streets in Bethleham we walked through the market, unfortunalty the market stalls were closed because of a strike, following a delayed release of a prisoner. As representative of Palestinian cities, the mosque stood opposite of the Church of the Nativity. Through the main roads another small town stood out on route called Beit Jarra. the road continued and the wall presented its ugliness. The wall increased and the road narrowed, there were derelict petrol stations and old sheds. 

Banksys museum was set inside the Walled Off Hotel, on the corner of the wall adjacent to the Watchtower. 

Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic

The Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic

The Al-Quds University Human Rights Clinic, based in the Muslim Quarter of Old City in Jerusalem, exists to provide pro bono legal advice to Palestinian Jersualemites who face, amongst much else, housing and residency policies designed to discriminate against and alter the Palestinian population of Jerusalem. The purpose for these policies is to create a Palestinian minority to never exceed 40% of the city’s population, and a Jewish majority to never fall beneath 60% of the city’s population.

The two most overt and calculating tactics used by the Israeli authorities to establish these

demographic designs are, firstly, to remove housing options for Palestinians through the use of mass eviction, home demolition, purposefully inadequate construction of livable property, institutional discrimination against building permits for Palestinian applicants, and a slew of legislation with the explicit intent to deny Palestinians access to housing in Jerusalem, thus forcing them to leave the city. The second method involves a systematic and coordinated attack on the residency status of Palestinians through complex policies that impose strict conditions on Palestinians who must constantly meet draconian requirements to preserve the right to work and abide in Jerusalem, with the slightest infringement making them vulnerable to having their permanent residency status revoked and being stripped of even the token legal protection residency status affords.

The intent of the Israeli authorities to deliberately control the demographics of Jerusalem is a very explicit and transparent objective, with the Israeli government website unapologetically detailing both the design and objectives of their discriminatory policies in the publicly accessible “Israel 2020: Master Plan for Israel in the 21^st Century” which emphatically describes Palestinian land and people as “poor”, “empty” and “eligible for conquering”.

An example of the policies employed by the Israeli government to engineer shifts in the population is the Center of Life Policy, which demands Palestinians intensively demonstrate to the authorities that their working, family and personal life necessitate legal residency in the city. The standards set to demonstrate viability for residency are sufficiently obstinate that Palestinians must orient their lives around satisfying unreasonable criteria to prove residency, for example being unable to leave the city territory for longer than six months else be susceptible to having residency status revoked and property claimed by settlers. Since the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 more than 14,500 Palestinians have had their residency status revoked. This reduction in the Palestinian population coincided with an increase in the Jewish population caused by the policy of universal citizenship offered to all Jews from abroad.

Another factor facilitating the expulsion of Palestinians and the immigration of Jews is the authorities legal support for descendents of Jews who fled Jerusalem after 1948 to reclaim abandoned property, despite the habitation of Palestinians having resided in these properties for more than half a century. While a legal argument does exist supporting the challenge that the property rightfully belongs to those forced to flee as refugees, this concern for property rights does not extend to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who also have been forced to flee because of conflict, instability and persecution. This double standard shows clearly the design of social engineering motivating the judicial apartheid between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.

Favouritism and categorical discrimination in the areas of planning permission, construction of housing and the allocation of municipal funds further illustrate the disparity in the attitudes of the authorities in their treatment of Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. Between the divided East and West Jerusalem, the vast majority of building violations occurred in the western part of the city at 78.4% compared to 21.5% in the eastern section. Yet only 27% of buildings in West Jerusalem were subject to demolition orders compared to 84% in East Jerusalem. These disparities continue in how Jerusalem’s municipal expenditure disproportionately allocates funds between the Jewish Israeli and Palestinian populations, with almost 90% of funds going to Jewish Israeli population which accounts for 63% of the population, and approximately 10% on the Palestinian population which accounts for 37% of Jerusalem’s inhabitants. Permission to build homes shows a continuation of this state-sanctioned unequal treatment, as 93% of housing permits were issued to Jewish Israelis and only 7% to Palestinians, the latter of which is in need of an additional 43,000 housing units which could rise significantly in the future as 60,000 Palestinians are at risk of having their homes demolished.

Underlying all this is the Wall of Separation built in 2002 which divides the majority Palestinian East Jerusalem from the West Bank, thereby dividing families and communities as well as severely complicating transport and access between the two areas by the construction of an impenetrable concrete wall, guarded by high watchtowers which may openly fire upon Palestinians, and accessible to Palestinians only through heavily militarized and inhumane checkpoints. And access is only granted to those who hold a Blue I.D. card, one of two possible colours assigned to Palestinians, the other being Green which prohibits movement across the Jerusalem checkpoints. All those separated from each other have no knowledge of when they may be reunited with their loved ones.

Thus there is an urgent need for the legal empowerment of Palestinians to enable their already disadvantaged position the capacity to navigate a judicial system with the uncompromising and undisputed aim of forcing them from their homes and tearing apart their communities. 

The terminally-ill, terminal route to Jerusalem

On route to al-Aqsa today the route was complex, what is a 7 minute drive and a 3km distance from Abu Dis, took an hour and a half to get to Jerusalem. .
We took the Palestinian route through the checkpoint. It was awful.  People were herded together, surrounded by large walls, metal cages and barriers; there were cameras built all around; a watch tower nearby whilst local residents were being treated like cattle.
All the while the Israeli Military- with large automatic weapons and an air of carelessness  were sat in their ivory tower, behind bulletproof windows, sipping coffees and looking chilled out.

I saw a 2 year-old green-eyed baby. She was so cute. Her mother and father were taking turns to hold her. She had large inquisitive eyes and I could see her looking around at the walls and metal bars. It was so difficult to watch, her life at that age is getting accustomed to the kind of things she'll have to deal with on a daily basis. I was quiet and observant through the 'terminal' and I think it had a greater impact on me. I was feeling really low and upset leaving the terminal. No-one should have to endure the humiliation imposed on Palestinians

The fact that there were no personnel physically stood at the security check-in area at the terminal struck me most. There is no physical contact and the Palestinians are just expected to move on like animals when the order comes from 'above'. It was so hard to watch and be a part of. People talk and try to be normal but there is nothing normal about it though for many it is all they have ever known so maybe it could be argued that it is normal?

Palestine Summer School starts

Very happy to hear from the CADFA visitors joining the Summer School at Al Quds University that they arrived safely in Palestine yesterday and must be meeting the Palestinian participants now! In Palestine the students involved are from the Al Quds University. The UK group includes students from London universities, Hull, Southampton and others as well as  people who are not students. But all will be looking and learning and then working together to plan future activities to promote human rights.
Look here in the next 10 days for updates from the group.

FOR HAMMAM

 

What do you understand by human rights? Can you name any of them? Do people in Britain have all their human rights? And what about human rights in Palestine?

 

This book, which start with questions about Palestine (good to test your knowledge) has been written as part of human rights project. Youth from Abu Dis and Camden met to work together, discover British and Palestinian societies and trade about issues of anti-discrimination and human rights. This book (written in Arabic and English) is the result of their work.

For all those young people the biggest issue was the violation of the human rights of Palestinian people.

 

Nowadays, most of the human rights of Palestinian children are violated. That is why youth ambassadors have chosen to discuss on the follow human rights:

- The right to an identity

- The right to leave your country and return to it

- The right to feel safe

- The rights to freedom from arbitrary arrest + freedom from torture

- The right to move around your country

- The right for families to be protected

- The right to clothing and housing

- The right to health care

- The right to education

- The right to play

- The right not to be discriminated against.

 

Finally, youth from Abu Dis and Camden have discussed about what they can do. Young Palestinian people have also made different recommendations like:

-      Tell others what is happening in Palestine

-      Ask for the wall and checkpoints to be removed.

-      Boycott Israel. - Etc.

 

If you don't know basis about the issue in Palestine and human rights situation there, this book is made for you!

 

*You can order the book here: http://www.cadfa.org/shop/for-hammam/

Sign the petition for the hunger strikers please.

Please sign the petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross which you can find here. The words are copied below.

https://www.change.org/p/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-defend-the-rights-of-the-hunger-strikers

We call your attention to the suffering of around 1800 Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike, most of them for more than 30 days.  Some are now refusing to take water.  The health of all of them is in grave danger. 

The prisoners are hunger striking for basic rights – the end of imprisonment without trial, decent treatment including family visits and their message must be listened to.

The Red Cross has a role in relation to prisoners in Palestine, but the families of prisoners are saying that they are not helping. The families of prisoners have issued a call for help and this is directed at the ICRC: they say..

“While Palestinian prisoners in “Israeli” occupation jails are fighting their battle and demanding their rights as political prisoners and human beings. the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) refuses to uphold its responsibility towards our prisoners.

ICRC has always bragged about its neutral nature and role in observing conditions of prisoners, however they remain silent while over 1500 prisoners mark their 31 days of hunger strike living only on water after the prison administrations have confiscated salt from them. This is not the first time where ICRC remains silent when prisoners are on hunger strike and being punished by “Israeli” prison administration. ICRC silence and refusal to meet with prisoners inside their sections and rooms can be only interpreted as collaboration and conniving with “Israeli” occupation forces.

“ICRC failure to attend to this cause contributes to the aggravation of the crisis and putting the lives of the prisoners at stake.”

We want to see family visits restored to Palestinian prisoners and believe that the ICRC must take a real stand to defend the rights of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. We are writing to ask for your immediate attention to this matter.

Students - Join the Palestine Summer School Sept 2017

Contact us at contact@cadfa.org for an application form and further information.