Israeli occupation forces on Friday brutally attacked Palestinian protesters and Israeli peace activists in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah, Zo Haderech and Al-Ittihad reported. Palestinians have been angry with the Israeli occupation over its unjust plans to evict Sheikh Jarrah’s residents from their homes to replace them with settlers, under the pretext that the Palestinian homes and lands were Jewish property before 1948. Among the protesters: Joint List MK Ofer Cassif, Hadash members and Communist Party of Israel activists.
While tens of extremist Israeli settlers continued to attack Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, the Israeli occupation forces have been preventing the entry of ambulances and journalists to the area.
Friday was the sixth continuous day of Israeli aggression on Sheikh Jarrah starting on Sunday when racist MK Itamar Ben-Gvir raided the neighborhood and set up an “office” for himself.
Police officers against Israeli peace activists during the demonstration in solidarity with Salem family and Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, Friday, February 18, 2022 (Photo: Activestills)
Also, on Friday several United Nations officials and diplomats have visited the home of the Salem family, whose house is under threat of being evacuated by March. They expressed their solidarity with her and called for Israel to stop evicting Palestinians from their homes.
The UN’s Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine met with the Salem family, who are at risk of expulsion despite having lived in their house for seven decades, according to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) press release. “The United Nations has repeatedly called for a halt to forced evictions and demolitions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem… under humanitarian law, forcible transfers of protected persons by the occupying power are forbidden regardless of their motive,” OCHA said.
The Salem family has 12 members, including six children and an elderly woman. Settlers have attacked the family and their house with stones and pepper spray. The UN said that the Salems are one of 218 Palestinian families living in occupied East Jerusalem currently facing the threat of forced eviction by the Israeli authorities.
OCHA asked “all political and community leaders” not to engage in “provocative action and rhetoric” and called on Israel to act to guarantee Palestinian refugees and other civilians are protected.
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