Good News from Sheikh Jarrah!

The Shamasneh family in Sheikh Jarrah expected to be evicted from their home tomorrow, March 1st.

Today, we discovered that the Jerusalem District court has ordered the eviction process to be frozen until further discussion of the matter. From what it looks like, the family has been given at least two more weeks before the eviction could again take place, possibly longer.

Part of the court's decision: "The ruling by the district court which rejected the petition of the appellant [Shamasneh] and would lead to his eviction from his house will be delayed until another decision is reached." — Part of the court’s decision: “The ruling by the district court which rejected the petition of the appellant [Shamasneh] and would lead to his eviction from his house will be delayed until another decision is reached.” & some apps that Mori uses on his laptop.

This is really good news.

Comma.

And the struggle is far from done. There are a lot of legal factors that remain to be determined, and which are basically irrelevant for the wider public. What is relevant is that those of us who are not experts in the legal ins and outs of these cases tip our hats to the good work done so far by the lawyers and media folks, and then get back to repeating the following points:

1. In Sheikh Jarrah (as in all of East Jerusalem (as in all of the Occupied Territories)) there are two different sets of laws for Jews and for Palestinians. This entire case is based on the question of whether or not the house should be “returned” to Jews whose family may have lived in the house prior to 1948. And what of the Palestinians whose families lived in now-Jewish owned houses prior to 1948? ie., Both the application of the law in Sheikh Jarrah and the OPT and the law itself are discriminatory and entirely non-democratic.

2. Israel desperately clings to its image as a democracy, especially in the eyes of the international community, especially with Obama coming over for a visit soon, and a new government being formed (complete with an Official Talking About Talking About Talking About Talking About Talking position filled by the somehow still taken seriously as a peace oriented politician Tzipi Livni). Israel will not not evict the Shamasneh family and others in East Jerusalem from a place of good will- these evictions are part and parcel to Israeli policies and plans for the future- but they may well not evict them from a place of politics. So pressure does matter. ie., Israel cannot call itself a Democracy as long as it (1) enacts anti-democratic laws and (2) people continue to challenge that enactment.

3. The future is not written. ie., The future is not written.

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1

Two Year Blobversary | The Leftern Wall on January 30, 2014 at 16:08

[…] posted two posts and one was an Haaretz article I had co-written the year before. The second was an attempt at optimism (note the forced “!” in the title) relating to the Shamasneh family in Sheikh Jarrah […]
2

Moriel Rothman on March 17, 2013 at 14:41

Dear Abd al Rahman,

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, the content of which I very much agree with. The international legal framework has failed in many contexts, and the Israeli-Palestinian one is a glaring example of that failure. I do see the conflict ending through ”legal” means, and therefore am putting my hopes in nonviolent activists, in bloggers, in community organizers, in creative initiatives that do not sit around waiting for the high-political players to make good laws (which they won’t) or follow the decent laws already existing (which they also won’t). Here’s to that, wa-alaikum a-salam, v’aleichem shalom.

(Also, thanks for the Mac tip!)
3

Abd al Rahman X (@Abd_al_Rahman_X) on March 16, 2013 at 15:45

I enjoy reading your articles, keep up the good work brother. I think at this point it’s clear that Israel can no longer be expected to control itself in any legal framework, every decision that’s made which clearly flies in the face of international law is somehow justified and goes ahead regardless. The US and Israel both abuse the power of veto at the UN to give Israel cart blanche to violate international law and bully, which goes against everything the UN is supposed to stand for. It’s time for both the US and Israel to have their veto rights revoked and face sanctions, if you let children run amok in a sweetshop telling them to promise not to eat too much before walking out of the door and leaving them to it, you can’t expect them to show any self restraint while your back is turned.

On another note just in case you weren’t aware, if you want clean screen captures on your Mac by the way mouse over what you want to capture then press and hold shift and command and then press 4. Then press the space bar to change the icon to a camera icon and click on your mouse.

Salam alaikum, shalom aleichem.
4

Cracks in the wall: A glimmer of hope for Israel-Palestine | The Leftern Wall on March 15, 2013 at 12:07

[…] like the media-spurred delay of the eviction in Sheikh […]
5

jeremy milgrom on February 28, 2013 at 14:20

absolutely true!
6

Moriel Rothman on February 28, 2013 at 14:15

I agree- part of the absurdity of this whole situation is that the Israeli courts have say over what happens to Palesitnians who have no say as to what happens in Israeli government.
7

totohanthala on February 28, 2013 at 14:13

It’s still hanging over like a death sentence and are israeli courts trustworthy or unbiased? It shouldn’t even be up to the Israeli courts in the occupied ‘terror’tories. It should be decided in a PALESTINIAN COURT SINCE THE HOUSE IS ON PALESTINIAN LAND CONCERNING PALESTINIAN PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION,EMANCIPATION AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE WITHOUT ILLEGAL FOREIGN LEGAL OR MILITARY INTERFERENCE….