Israeli policemen on guard during a demonstration against Jewish settlements and in solidarity with Palestinian families who were evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem January 1, 2010. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Michael Ratner send this short report on today’s weekly protest in the Sheikh Jarrah, the East Jerusalem neighborhood where Israeli settlers are taking over Palestinian homes:
Today we went on the demonstration against the evictions in Sheikh-Jarrah and the take over of the houses by Jewish settlers. It was organized by young people and began in West Jerusalem and wound its way into East Jerusalem. Great hostility in the West–screams and the tossing of a few apples and water on us and then cheering in the East. The chants—at least a few that were in English were amazing to me, as they came from Israelis: "1, 2, 3, 4 –occupation no more" And then: "5, 6, 7, 8—Israel is a racist state." Incredibly sad and moving from the children of the holocaust.
It is a shameful mark of the state of US influence on Israel that the US can urge Netanyahu not to release Marwan Bourghouti from prison yet does nothing to stop ethnic cleansing.
Prison, yes. Justice, no.
Could you clarify what you mean “Children of the Holocaust”?
RE: Weekly Sheikh Jarrah protest greeted with hostility in West Jerusalem, cheers in East Jerusalem
ALSO SEE – Bernard Avishai Dot Com: Sheikh Jarrah – It’s Happening, 12/31/09
(EXCERPT) For a protest to turn into a serious happening, you need two things. First, an injustice so obvious, and so emblematic, that to redress it is to play a kind of historical jujitsu: the force of the grievance pushes more and more people to turn out; and the growing crowd starts to feel that, if they win (and why shouldn’t they, when the weight of a silent majority is behind them?), they will have defeated inertia. Second, you need the protest to be so simple, repetitive and doable–so focused on the critical issue of the time–that more and more people join in just for the fun of being right and good, sort of the way they might be going to weekly prayer meeting. Little by little, the protest becomes an enormous political fact (Think of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott.)
Something like this is happening in Jerusalem on Friday afternoons. A few weeks ago, a group of settlers took over most of a house in Sheikh Jarrah, turning its residents out…In consequence, three weeks ago, a small number of protesters gathered in central Jerusalem on Friday afternoon (in the plaza in front of the city’s largest department store, to be exact). They began to walk through the streets, with drums and signs and costumes, until they got to the Arab neighborhood in question. The immediate grievance was the expulsion of this family, and the immediate goal was restoring the family to its home…
…But there is clearly a larger issue here, and all involved (protesters and police) have understood this. The protest is a way of asserting that East Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian state…Three weeks ago, there were about 30 or 40 protesters, and a number were arrested for tearing down the Israeli flag that the settlers had hung from the house. Two weeks ago there were 50 protesters. Last week there were 250, and East Jerusalem Arabs were cautiously coming out to cheer. Perhaps, eventually, Arabs will join, too. Anyway, Sidra and I will be there this Friday, and most every Friday…
ENTIRE POST – link to bernardavishai.blogspot.com
AND SEE: ALSO SEE: “Everyone can drum”, By Daphna Golan, HAARETZ, 12/22/09
(EXCERPTS)…We were on our way to Sheikh Jarrah, to the homes where Palestinian families were evicted onto the street.
The court authorized Jewish families to come live in those homes instead, since before 1948, the homes belonged to a Jewish organization. How will the education minister explain that Arabs are forbidden to claim the homes they abandoned in 1948 – in Musrara, Talbieh, Katamon and all the beautiful neighborhoods where only Jews live today – but Jews are allowed to claim their former homes?
We sang to a samba beat; the drums set the beat and made us merry. And then, dozens of police arrived in huge vehicles, along with others riding horses, and forcibly dragged away my son and his drummer friends. The police did not explain; they refused to identify themselves; they gave us no reason for the arrest. Two hours later, at Sheikh Jarrah, police attacked the clowns and the drummers and arrested 20 of the Israelis who sat down and said “no more” to racism in Jerusalem.
Altogether, 50 were arrested over the course of a day and a half. In custody, they sang Hanukkah songs and peace songs, and after being released, they continued to drum and sing in the square outside the court. Their drums are still being held…
…Everyone has a pot that can be used as a drum. Sometimes, it is deep in the cupboard. Sometimes, it seems impossible to reach it.
But everyone can drum – drum in order to wake us all up and suggest that we can do things differently. Drum for Jews and Arabs to have a shared life in Jerusalem.
ENTIRE COMMENTARY – link to jfjfp.com
Exactly. And for what it’s worth symbolically, Rosa Parks was literally part Scots-Irish and part native American (two different tribes), as well as of black ethnic background and heritage.