JERUSALEM HOUR

International Stand in Solidarity with the Holy City

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Jerusalem 16:00      Geneva 15:00

          New York 09:00         London 14:00        

Law For Palestine          Palestinian NGO Network    Palestinian Bar Association      Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council

United Kingdom 13/05/2021

In a joint statement, more than 80 human rights and civil society organizations from different countries called on the world’s jurists, judges and lawyers, community activists and legal and human rights organizations and institutions around the world, to participate in an “International Stand in Solidarity with the Holy City”, next Sunday. The aim of the stand is to express solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel’s racist and apartheid policies, to call for respect of international law, to stop the displacement in Jerusalem, to ensure accountability, and to condemn the Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip and targeting them by lethal force resulting in war crimes.

The following is the text of the call launched by the organizations:

To whom it may concern,

In light of the recent Israeli escalation, the breaking into places of worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuing attacks by Israeli settlers and occupation forces against Palestinians in Jerusalem and the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, and the plans for forced displacement and expulsions of Palestinians as part of Israeli apartheid policies to Judaize the city of Jerusalem, we call upon the jurists, judges and lawyers, community activists and legal and human rights organizations and institutions around the world, to participate in a global protest, to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, in support of their just cause. We also call on the international community to act urgently to put an end to Israeli impunity, crimes and aggression against the Palestinians, to ensure respect for international law, accountability of offenders and redress for victims.

Time and Date: Next Sunday, May 16, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. Jerusalem Time.
Location: Before bar associations, parliaments, United Nations headquarters and Israeli embassies all around the world.

The aim of the stand is to express your solidarity with the people and families of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, and with Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem as they stand in the face of Israeli apartheid policies, to demand an immediate end to these policies, to call for respect of international law, for accountability and redress, and to demand an end to impunity.

The aim of the stand is to express solidarity with the people and families of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, and with Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, to condemn the Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip, and to call for accountability

The organizations calling for the stand had issued a joint statement condemning and rejecting the expulsions taking place in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood; a Palestinian neighborhood in Occupied East Jerusalem. The organizations consider these actions as part of the racist and apartheid policies, laws and prosecutorial practices that Palestinians face in Jerusalem and the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The organizations also condemn the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque with worshippers inside and the excessive use of force against them by the Israeli armed forces. Additionally, they condemn any and all acts of aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip, the targeting by lethal force resulting in war crimes, and emphasize that this will continue as it did in 2014 when the civilians of Gaza paid a heavy price and were subjected to collective punishment by Israel.

The organizations state that the challenges faced by the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are the same faced by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Arab neighborhoods within the Green Line, or even the refugee diaspora in the world who are denied the right to return. They also add that these challenges are namely: discriminatory policies, racism, displacement and the pursuit of Israel’s superiority and control over the entire territory. The organizations emphasize that East Jerusalem, where Sheikh Jarrah is located, is a part of the occupied Palestinian territory according to international law and should be subject to Palestinian laws and sovereignty. However, and according to the joint statement, Israel is subjecting the population to its military rule and racist laws, including the law it has enacted since 1970, which stipulated, among other laws, that Jews who had lost their property during the 1948 war, following the establishment of Israel, could reclaim it and be compensated for it. On the other hand, Palestinians who had lost their property were deprived of the same right.

The organizations point out that, according to the international law, and since Jerusalem is an occupied territory, it is subject to the provisions and rules of International Humanitarian Law, which prohibits the forced eviction of the civilian population from the occupied territories and replacing them with settlers by the occupying power. This behavior, they continue, is a war crime punishable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Prosecutor of which decided on March 5, 2021, to initiate an investigation into the crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In addition, The organizations’ joint statement considers the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacks against worshippers, including the firing of rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and sound bombs, and the denial of access to the Red Crescent paramedics, which resulted in hundreds of injuries, as grave violations of the Geneva Conventions and the rules of International Humanitarian Law.

The international and local human rights organizations, who have signed the statement, call for an end to Israel’s impunity, to support the course of international prosecution of what is taking place in Jerusalem and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and to support the course of the International Criminal Court in this regard. They also call upon the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, and UNESCO to take practical steps to provide international protection to the occupied and the Holy City of Jerusalem, to condemn the Israeli fueling of the conflict and its apartheid policies in the region and to take practical and genuine action for accountability and to stop the allowance of impunity.

Background information Regarding the Case of Sheikh Jarrah:

This last week the world bore witness to an escalation of tension in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood- a Palestinian area located north of the Old City of the occupied East Jerusalem- due to the demands of Israeli settlers to forcibly evict Palestinian families who live in the neighborhood.  As a result, many civilians have been either injured or arrested and tension in the entire Palestinian territories is at an all-time high.  Over the past few years, a number of Palestinian families have been forcedly evicted from this neighborhood, and more than 27 Palestinian families, approximately 500 persons, are also under threat; these families are at risk of dispossession and forced eviction. 

Indeed, the field facts and legal analysis bear out the Israeli occupation’s true intentions; supported by their courts and discriminatory laws, the occupation is seeking to transfer ownership of these homes from their original owners to Israeli settlers. According to the legal analysis of the rules of international law, Jordanian laws, Ottoman documents, and Israeli laws, we find ourselves facing a situation of forceful land usurpation aided by discriminatory policies and laws. Based on the legal situation of the lands in Sheikh Jarrah, we emphasize that these lands are outside Israeli sovereignty and therefore outside the jurisdiction of its courts that tyrannize the law and the jurisdiction of Palestinian courts. According to the rules of international humanitarian law, these lands are located in the occupied Palestinian territories; the aforementioned rules deem the legal characterization of the Israeli authorities as an occupying power, obliging the latter to respect the international laws regarding the Palestinian territories. The international humanitarian law criminalizes the transfer of residents by the occupying power, and the Rome Statute governing the International Criminal Court – which is currently investigating the situation in Palestine – considers it a war crime.

* For more, and to read a fact sheet that contains the most important field facts and legal analysis regarding the case of Sheikh Jarrah, click here

To check out the list of organizations and institutions that signed the joint statement, here