Dr. Erakat after the eviction of over 50 Palestinians in East Jerusalem: “Israel once again has shown its commitment to the settler organizations”

This morning Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat strongly condemned the eviction of over 50 people from their homes in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem.

“Israel, the occupying power, once again has shown its commitment to the settler organizations by evicting more than 50 Palestinians, many of them children, from the houses where they have lived for more than 50 years. Tonight, while these new settlers from abroad will be accommodating themselves and their belongings in these Palestinian houses, 19 newly homeless children will have nowhere to sleep”.

Dr. Erakat stressed that, “Israel is once again showing its utter failure to respect international law, the Road Map and the most basic moral and humanitarian principles. While Israeli authorities have promised the American administration that home demolitions, home evictions and others provocations against Palestinian Jerusalemites would be stopped, what we’ve seen on the ground is the complete opposite”.

About the role of the international community in stopping these Israeli actions, Dr. Erakat emphasized that “the evictions are part of a dangerous plan to encircle the Old City with Israeli settlements, isolating it from other Palestinian neighborhoods and creating facts on the ground to preempt the outcome of final status negotiations. The international community must act decisively, in line with international law, against these Israeli measures that threaten the viability of a two-state solution. The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is where most foreign consulates and international organizations in Jerusalem are located. Nobody can say that they didn’t see these outrageous actions coming; now is time to act.”

“According to the Road Map, the Israeli government must reopen the Palestinians institutions in East Jerusalem that were shut down in 2001. Instead of implementing this obligation, the Israeli government insists that Jerusalem is non-negotiable and allows the continuation of daily aggression against Palestinian civilians with the ultimate goal of forcing them to leave their ancestral homes. Home demolitions, evictions and ID revocations are just a small part of the daily repertoire of Israeli policies carried out against Palestinian Christians and Muslims in occupied East Jerusalem”.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat concluded by expressing his solidarity with the affected families. “Today Israel tore down the tent where Um Kamel, an elderly woman who was evicted from her home in Sheikh Jarrah by Israeli police last year, had taken refuge. How does an old woman living in a tent offend the security of Israel? Her steadfast resolve and commitment to staying put has been an example for everyone; East Jerusalem is, and always will be, Palestinian.” At the same time, Erakat recalled that “the Hanoun and Ghawi families as well as other 28 affected homes in Sheikh Jarrah have been engaging in non-violent resistance against Israeli evictions. They never injured anyone but still struggled to stay in their homes. Their case tells us of the need to give immediate protection to the Palestinian families being harassed by Israeli settlers and authorities within the occupied Palestinian territory.”