Middle East Monitor / July 27, 2021
Palestinian activists and Jerusalemites yesterday gathered at two tents set up in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in an effort to thwart Israeli attempts to dismantle the tents which are used to hold rallies against the occupation’s plans to forcibly displaced Palestinians from the area to make way for illegal Jewish settlers.
The residents of Sheikh Jarrah and activists gathered in the two tents after an Israeli demolition warrant was delivered to the organizers of the sit-it, resident Nabil al-Kurd said.
On Sunday, officers from the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem stormed Sheikh Jarrah and delivered a demolition order for the tents, claiming that they were erected in a public area.
Murad Attiya from Sheikh Jarrah said that the Israeli occupation suspended the demolition order after the activists and residents gathered in the area.
“It is clear that the Israeli occupation retreated and froze the demolition after the youth and journalists gathered here,” Attiya said. “They are checking whether the Palestinians are still concerned about Sheikh Jarrah or not.”
Palestinian Mahmoud Salah from Silwan was detained at the sit-in, while two other Palestinians were held at the door of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli attacks on Palestinian protesters demanding an end to the forced displacement of families from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem to make way for illegal settlers have intensified since May. Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on numerous occasions, shot and abused Palestinian worshippers as they prayed the nightly Ramadan prayers. In response, resistance factions fired rockets into Israel.
Israel, which continuously strikes the besieged Gaza Strip throughout the year, then increased its attacks and levelled numerous housing blocks, killing 254 Palestinians including 66 children. Five Israelis were also killed.
Israeli occupation authorities also repeatedly closed off Gaza’s fishing waters and blocked all crossing in and out of the Strip, imprisoning its two million population. Some 60,000 people have been affected by the arbitrary sea closures. Previous reports have shown that at least 90 per cent of Gaza’s fishermen live below the poverty line.
