Posts tagged shiekh jarrah
One year in, the Sheikh Jarrah movement faces its biggest challenge – Zionism
Aug 9th
Last Friday marked exactly one year since the beginning of the protests against the eviction of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah. The protest has grown from a handful of Israelis and some international activists to hundreds of Israelis that attend weekly Friday demonstrations. Unlike one year ago, key Israeli political and cultural personalities associated with the Zionist establishment such as Avraham Burg and David Grossman now make weekly appearances addressing the crowd with passionate speeches about the future of the Israeli left. Going into its first year, the movement in Sheikh Jarrah now faces its biggest challenge – Zionism.
Despite the enormous recognition of the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah in Israel and abroad, the movement is beginning to split over important questions about its character and future aspirations. Many of the original Israeli protesters are growing disenchanted with the current direction of the movement. They feel that the movement is transitioning from a joint Palestinian-Israeli struggle to a fight to save the Zionist soul. An example of this tension can be found in the coordination committees which run the protest and it’s strategy. From the beginning, a joint Israeli-Palestinian coordination committee has been meeting weekly to discuss upcoming and previous actions as well as media strategy. Since last fall, another committee which is only Israeli has been meeting as well in order to plan the actions from the Israeli point of view. As the protest has grown to include more and more Israelis, the Israeli committee has increased in size dramatically and slowly taken over the guiding duties of the movement. The character of the Israeli committee is becoming a Zionist one as political parties such as Meretz have begun to take central roles in the protest movement. Some of the “official” spokespeople of the Sheikh Jarrah protest do not even attend the joint Palestinian-Israeli planning committee instead preferring to organize solely from the Israeli side. This gulf between the committees presents one of the most profound challenges to the future of the joint struggle.
Internal issues have often destroyed leftist movements in Israel. Due to schisms that arose about the direction of the Peace Now protests in the nineties a new direct action left was created by groups like Ta’ayush and the Anarchists Against the Wall around the time of the second intifada. To this day, these groups refuse to take joint positions on major political questions and theory instead preferring to focus on joint Palestinian-Israeli action in the field. Zionist rhetoric is also completely absent from their few political manifestos.The Israeli involvement in Sheikh Jarrah was largely started by people associated with these groups. The ability to maintain the philosophy of direct action in the streets of Sheikh Jarrah is now a decisive issue among the Israeli protesters as the Zionist left has found a more visible role in the movement.
Despite internal issues of character and identity, the protests have served to galvanize the Israeli left. Many people in Jerusalem and even Tel Aviv, who would have never thought about entering East Jerusalem, now make regular weekly visits to Sheikh Jarrah and bear witness to the Israeli government’s policy of unequally application of the law. Israelis have a psychological barrier when it comes to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and other Palestinian areas. Maybe it is the army or the education system but the thought of entering a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem is simply beyond the comprehension of reality for many mainstream Israelis. Sheikh Jarrah has helped to break down this barrier and people that before would have feared for their life in East Jerusalem attend demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah on a weekly basis. Because of Sheikh Jarrah there is a ‘new blood’ in the Israeli left and many Israelis are now joining groups like Ta’ayush in other demonstrations in the West Bank. Ta’ayush, the Arab-Jewish partnership group who have been conducting direct action demonstrations in the South Hebron Hills since 2002, has seen a dramatic increase in the levels of participates for their weekly activities as a result of the popularity of the Sheikh Jarrah movement.
Sheikh Jarrah has become the gateway drug for a new breed of Israeli leftists which are slowly understanding that the walls between Israeli and Palestinian society are not high and can easily be brought down. In the landscape of the direct action Israeli left, Sheikh Jarrah is also unique because of the age range of people that have joined the struggle. While a core component of the movement is made up of young university age people, many older people from all segments of Israeli society have become regular fixtures in the movement. Often, older participants in Sheikh Jarrah harbour stronger Zionist politics than the younger protesters thus helping to reinforce the tension with Zionism in the movement.
For many Israeli activists in Sheikh Jarrah, the past year has brought profound psychological changes. One of the core activists involved in Sheikh Jarrah, who did not wish to be named, told me , “I am a law-abiding citizen. I pay my taxes. I come from a good family and have never done anything illegal in my life but in Sheikh Jarrah I am criminal in the eyes of the police. Why? Because I am non-violent activist standing with Palestinians. In Sheikh Jarrah, I realized for the first time in my life that the police were against me because of my political views and this is scary.” This story is not uncommon among protesters in Sheikh Jarrah and helps explains the incredible growth of the movement. Once Israelis are confronted with the uncomfortable reality that their state does not represent them and is in fact against them, returning to normal life becomes very difficult. Continued protest is often the only way to maintain sanity.
According to one of the earliest Israeli activists in the Sheikh Jarrah struggle, the growth of the movement is incredible. She told me that, ‘I never expected to see this day, when hundreds of Israelis would go to East Jerusalem and risk arrests or personal violence in order to protest on behalf of solidarity and co-existence with Palestinians.” Despite her positive views on the protest growth, one can see the tension in her eyes about the types of Israelis which are joining the protest. She is worried that the protest will lose its character as a Palestinian struggle which Israelis can assist. At one point in our conversation she told me that on certain protest days she would prefer to have five hundred less Israelis in order to maintain the Palestinian character of the protest.
Zionist leftists associated with grassroots groups or political parties such as Meretz are beginning to see Sheikh Jarrah as an outlet for Israelis to deal with internal issues. Sheikh Jarrah has become a symbol of the nature of the Israeli legal system and the unequal application of law. Most Israelis understand that violent elements in society (e.g. settlers) control an unusually high amount of state resources and attention. Until now, there has not be an public outlet for expressing this criticism in a popular way. Sheikh Jarrah has become that outlet but at the cost of joint Palestinian-Israeli character of the struggle. Zionist parties are looking to hijack the struggle as proof that Israel has the ability to be a vibrant democracy. They want to use the movement to help establish the character of Israeli society which does not necessarily have anything to do with the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. The clarity of the injustice that is taking place in Sheikh Jarrah against Palestinians coupled with the fact that it is centrally located in Jerusalem, has made the protest movement a fertile ground for the recreation of the Israeli left.
Zionism is involved in a fight to save its soul both in Israel and abroad. Israelis have lived with the uncomfortable reality that Zionism is at odds with issues of human rights, liberalism and equality for as long as the state has existed but have been ignored them successfully with an obsession with ‘security’. A change is under way in Israel as the country is taking a turn to the right in terms of its leadership and it’s view on the outside world. Many Israelis who still believe in Zionism as containing some form of classical liberal theory but are uncomfortable about its current/future application have found a voice in the Sheikh Jarrah movement. They look to Sheikh Jarrah as a chance to show themselves and perhaps the world that Israel does have the ability to exist democratically and extend basic rights to even its enemies. They are able to use the movement as a struggle against rightist elements associated with Zionism such as the settlers and the armed forces of the state. The movement is becoming a place where the contours of a more equitable state of Israel are discussed with incredible hope amond Zionist leftists.
The difficulty in all of this is that the more Sheikh Jarrah becomes ‘a fight for the Zionist soul’, the less it is about a Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. Zionism has not yet learned co-existence with Palestinian society, and especially not with unarmed Palestinian resistance. Sheikh Jarrah is becoming an example of one of the most perverse forms of Zionist domination – the hijacking of a Palestinian struggle in order to play out internal issues of Zionist practice within Israeli society. Non-Zionist Israeli leftists have realized this trend a long time ago and left the movement. The challenge facing the Israeli left will be to deprioritize their own Zionist struggle, and instead embrace the ideas of Palestinian solidarity that the movement was founded on. If these political movements can co-exist in Sheikh Jarrah, the struggle will be truly revolutionary.
In the next year, the Israeli left will have to face difficult questions about the parameters of its political philosophy. The protests will continue to grow while more and more Israelis descend on the neighbourhood on Friday afternoons. Zionist left parities such as Meretz will continue to use Sheikh Jarrah as an example of Israeli aspirations of democratic excellence while minimizing the Palestinian character of the struggle. The challenge for the Israeli activists who began this incredible movement will be how they deal with the forces of Zionism in the demonstrations and in the planning committees. For the model to grow, issues of Zionism will have to be dealt with directly at the risk of alienating large segments of the Israeli population that are curious about joining the movement. The forces of Zionism see an opportunity in Sheikh Jarrah to exploit the work of a group of dedicated Israelis and Palestinians that believe in co-existence and co-habitation. The strength of the movement will be seen in whether they can weather the Zionist storm that has already begun to take over the movement.
Sheikh Jarrah Turns One while Dozens are Attacked with Tear Gas in Bil’in
Aug 7th
Another week of demonstrations across the West Bank with one very important milestone. It has been exactly one year since the stuggle in Sheikh Jarrah began with the forcible eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood. To mark the day, protests in the name of solidarity were held in eight locations throughout Israel including a 700-person strong demonstration in Tel Aviv. At four in the afternoon, the protests culminated in a peaceful demostration in Sheikh Jarrah. It is unclear where this struggle will lead in the coming year but what is clear that Shiekh Jarrah has opened a new space of protest for the Israeli left. Despite my personal feeling that the Sheikh Jarrah protest is increasingly becoming a place for the Zionist left in Israel to continue its program of double speak, I tip my hat to the truly courageous activists who have poured their heart and soul into the grassroots movement in Sheikh Jarrah. These people inspire me and I believe that they will be able to keep at bay sinister elements which are trying to hijack the protest movement in Jerusalem in the name of Zionism.
While Sheikh Jarrah was celebrating its first year, dozens were met with tear gas in Bi’ilin. According to the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee press release:
Dozens of demonstrators marched against the wall and in solidarity with Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah, and were attacked by soldiers with rubber-coated bullets, tear-gas and concussion grenades. Three were injured. Dozens of demonstrators marched against the wall and in solidarity with Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah, on the two-year anniversary to the state-sponsored eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes by Jewish settlers. The protesters, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals as one, marched through the village’s streets on their way to the wall, carrying flags and pictures of the prisoners of the popular struggle, chanting slogans of national unity and against the occupation and specifically the attack on Jerusalem. As they arrived to the gate in the wall, demonstrators found soldiers in large forces positioned both behind concrete barricades, seemingly ready for battle, and right behind the gate, which they have shut closed with razor-wire. Three people were lightly injured as a result of the army’s attack – two in the arm from tear-gas projectiles and one in the head from a baton blow.
Similar demonstrations were held in Ma’asara on Friday:
Roughly sixty people marked Hiroshima Day in the weekly demonstration in alMa’asara today, but were prevented from reaching their lands, which were declared a closed military zone. This week’s march was joined by many solidarity activists from around the world, including delegations from France and Canada. As the march descended from the village into the road leading to the path of the Wall, protesters were met by a small group of soldiers who presented them with a closed military zone order and tried to stop the procession. The demonstrators ignored the soldiers and continued walk, overwhelming them with their numbers, but were soon after met by a much larger contingent of soldiers and armored military jeeps. As they could advance no more, protesters sat on the ground, making speeches, chanting and singing. The demonstration then dispersed with no incident.
The question remains in my head; where we will be a year from now? Will there be a ‘new’ Shiekh Jarrah? Will Shiekh Jarrah grow into a center-left Zionist animal? Will the spirit of solidarity grew between Israelis and Palestinians and spread throughout this region? Who knows but we should count the last year of protest in Sheikh Jarrah and its growth as a success.
David Shulman on Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza and in the Israeli Peace Movement in the NYRB
Jan 4th
Writing in the New York Review of Books Blog:
The legal situation in Sheikh Jarrah is ambiguous: Israeli courts have recently ruled that Jewish claims to ownership of land and houses in the neighborhood, from long before 1948, are valid and constitute a basis for evicting the Palestinian residents, all of whom received these lands from the Jordanian government in the 1950s in exchange for their UNRWA cards (thus relinquishing their status as refugees). But the issue is not really a legal one. The government, the municipality, and the settlers want to take over yet another Palestinian neighborhood—another 26 homes are scheduled for eviction, in addition to the three that have already been evacuated—and, of course, to prevent any future compromise in Jerusalem.
As a result, hundreds of Israelis, many of them young people joining the struggle for the first time, take off Friday afternoons to march through town and then demonstrate, courting arrest and harassment, in Sheikh Jarrah; the clumsy attempts by the Jerusalem police to suppress the protest violently have only added to our numbers. The demonstrations have a festive character, with drummers, acrobats, and clowns (the police arrested the clowns). Rumors about the demise of the Israeli peace movement are, it seems, premature.





Palestinians out, Jews in
Aug 3rd
Posted by Joseph Dana in Unarmed Resistance
10 comments
After receiving eviction notices last May, three Palestinian families constituting 53 people, including 20 children, were forcibly removed from their homes under High Court order at dawn on Sunday August 2. The Hanouns, the Rawis and the al-Ghawis, all families who fled their homes in West Jerusalem and became refugees during the 1948 War, have been living in their houses since 1956, when Jordan reached an agreement with UNRWA to resettle them.
They are now living on the streets, homeless. Just a week ago they were living inside their home and now there are Jewish settlers inside, exhibiting not the least bit of remorse for the homeless family just outside. The Hanoun family’s furniture was seized by Israeli forces and they are now responsible for paying the storage and mover fees. Meanwhile, the Jewish settlers are living with round-the-clock security, not allowing anyone near. At one house, the police actually had the nerve to tell us not to film too close, as we should respect the privacy of the new residents.
This is just one of several plans by various real estate groups such as Nahalat Shimon International and American businessmen such as Irving Moskowitz, to populate the areas surrounding the Old City with Jewish strongholds that sever Palestinian territorial contiguity in East Jerusalem. This prejudices any final resolution in which East Jerusalem would be the Palestinian capital. It is also in clear breach of Israel’s commitment under the Road Map. But these operations are backed by the Israel Lands Administration, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli government, who are all working together to undermine any possibility for a two-state solution and are blatantly infringing on the basic human rights of the residents of what they deem to be the “united Jerusalem.”