Beit Hanina, Occupied East Jerusalem – 9 individuals had been injured and journalists had been attacked by Israeli safety forces this week because the Jerusalem Municipality demolished a two-story constructing and residential of the Karameh household within the East Jerusalem suburb of Abu Tor on the pretext of being constructed with no constructing allow.
The household of 15 was forcibly evicted by Israeli police whereas six of these injured required hospitalisation, in response to the Crimson Crescent. Lots of of Palestinians are dealing with pressured expulsion from houses in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians wish to be their future capital.
However one household, the Salhiyehs, is taking the Israeli authorities to the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) after they had been evicted from their house in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem final week, and the next destruction of their house by the Jerusalem Municipality.
“There is no such thing as a justice, as an Israeli I don’t imagine in my nation any extra. They’ve destroyed my life,” Lital Salhiyeh, 40, instructed Al Jazeera.
Final week Lital’s husband Mahmoud, 43, a number of of their sons and their buddies staged an illustration on the roof of their home in Sheikh Jarrah, threatening to blow themselves up with a gasoline canister after the Israeli authorities tried to evict them from the house they’ve lived in for many years.
A number of days later, throughout a chilly and wet evening, Israeli particular forces raided their house, arrested them at gunpoint, and beat them up. They had been taken to jail for a number of days earlier than their lawyer secured their launch on bail.
Houses destroyed
Whereas Mahmoud was in jail their house was destroyed by the municipality, leaving 18 individuals homeless.
“The police drove me previous my destroyed house the subsequent morning and confirmed me what that they had executed. We weren’t knowledgeable that the house can be destroyed,” Mahmoud instructed Al Jazeera.
“Mahmoud and I knew that the eviction order was towards us personally however not the remainder of the household and neither was there a demolition order towards our house,” stated Lital from the house they’ve quickly rented within the East Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina.
“We misplaced every part and left with solely the garments on our again. I don’t even have footage of my youngsters,” Lital, who has been married to Mahmoud for 23 years, stated. The couple has six youngsters.
A household agricultural nursery, the place Mahmoud labored, and historic olive timber on their plot of land had been additionally destroyed.
Lital, an animal lover, managed to rescue a number of the household pets who had been left stranded within the rain and chilly after the household’s house was demolished.
It was the second time the Salhiyeh household has been made refugees. In 1948 they had been expelled from their house within the village of Ein Karem in the course of the Arab-Israeli warfare.
In 1984 Jerusalem Municipality’s district planning committee authorised a constructing plan for the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and designated the plot on which the household house and nursery had been constructed for public constructing – despite the fact that different public areas could be discovered for this goal with out requiring the eviction of a household house.
In July 2017, the municipality introduced the expropriation of the plot of land, which Mahmoud’s mother and father bought in 1958.
The landowners filed an objection to the expropriation, however the court docket authorised the expropriation and dismissed the objection.
‘Taking a look at all the main points’
Critics argue the Israeli authorities try to Judaise East Jerusalem in favour of a better Jewish demography.
Nevertheless, the Salhiyeh household is defiant and plans to take the Israeli authorities to the ICC along with launching a world marketing campaign highlighting the case and people of different Palestinians dealing with eviction and residential demolitions in East Jerusalem.
“On Monday afternoon we held a Zoom assembly with our attorneys in London, Bindmans Solicitors, who’re partnering with the Worldwide Centre of Justice for Palestinians [ICJP], in representing a number of different Palestinian households from Sheikh Jarrah,” household lawyer Walid Abu-Tayeh instructed Al Jazeera.
“They’re learning the paperwork and taking a look at all the main points earlier than deciding the subsequent step and have been engaged on the case since October after we first consulted them. We don’t know when the case might be introduced earlier than the ICC nevertheless it might take a very long time,” he stated.
“What made this all attainable was an announcement in 2019 by the ICC prosecutor of the opening of an investigation into whether or not crimes dedicated in Palestine after June 2014 fell inside the jurisdiction of the court docket,” stated Abu-Tayeh.
Expectations from ICC
In 2021 the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC concluded the court docket’s territorial jurisdiction prolonged to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967: Gaza and the West Financial institution together with East Jerusalem.
“The ICC can now pursue Israel for warfare crimes,” stated Abu-Tayeh.
“The ICC might rule that Israel must rebuild the demolished home; that senior Israeli authorities officers concerned within the demolition and eviction may very well be arrested in the event that they journey overseas; and that every one Israel’s actions within the West Financial institution equivalent to land theft, the behaviour of the settlers, and different human rights abuses might additionally fall underneath the ICC’s jurisdiction in order that particular person settlers could be sued in addition to collectively.”
The Salhiyehs are taking different authorized motion as nicely.
“We now have additionally been in touch with a number of American senators in each the Senate and the Congress with reference to taking over our case to kick off a world marketing campaign towards the house demolitions and the evictions, and my brothers within the US are in touch with a number of legislation companies there too,” Abu-Tayeh stated.
East Jerusalem is illegally occupied underneath worldwide legislation. The “in depth destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by navy necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” quantities to a grave breach of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is taken into account a warfare crime, in response to the 1998 Rome Statute of the ICC.
Tensions have been constructing elsewhere in East Jerusalem, the place Palestinians are both within the strategy of being displaced or have already been made homeless.
Final week Israeli and Palestinian peace activists had been attacked by Israeli safety forces as they protested the pending eviction and destruction of the Salem household house.
An Israeli settler who pulled a gun on the protesters was arrested.
Hatem Abdel Khader, the Palestinian Authority’s former minister for Jerusalem, and who now coordinates Muslim and Christian efforts on behalf of the PA to forestall the Judaisation of East Jerusalem, instructed Al Jazeera the house demolitions and evictions had been inflammatory and harmful.
“These are elevating tensions and will provoke extreme penalties. The worldwide neighborhood must take motion and the worldwide courts should get entangled within the combat,” stated Khader.
Mahmoud Salhiyeh stated he is aware of the battle forward goes to be lengthy and arduous “however we received’t hand over with no combat”.
Crispin Blunt, member of parliament and director of the Worldwide Centre of Justice for Palestinians, stated the Sheikh Jarrah case was already infamous.
“ICJP is proud and privileged to face alongside this household as they signify not simply their very own pursuits, however the century of historic injustice meted out to the Palestinian individuals individually and collectively,” he stated.
“For Israel’s sake, for all Palestinians and for humanity’s sake, the Sheikh Jarrah case must be a turning level the place justice and our frequent humanity begins to depend for greater than individuals’s insecurities pushed by concern.”