JERUSALEM – The world has seen Palestine face many struggles and hardships this year; from the forced removal of Palestinians from the neighbourhood of Sheik Jarrah to the attacks on the Holy mosque of Al-Aqsa.
Speaking to Salaamedia, an activist at Kuffiya, Mahmoud Shakshak, said that with Naftali Bennett taking charge of the Israeli government things have only been getting harder.
“He’s [Naftali Bennet] shown no mercy when it comes to Palestinians and with the expansion of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. We are sitting in Palestine and watching the world actually watching us being violated.”
Shakshak said although Sheik Jarrah was under international law and the ‘official papers of ownership are actually in Jordan’, the Israeli government kept kicking people out.
“We have people who kept speaking up about their homes being stolen and you know under theft by Israeli settlers like Muna El-Kurd and Mohammed El-Kurd and they’ve been role models to me.”
“Sheik Jarrah is under international law. A Palestinian neighbourhood and the papers, the official papers of ownership are actually in Jordan, they’re the Kingdom of Jordan and despite that, the Israeli occupation kept kicking out people out and if it wasn’t for a few people who kept speaking out for Sheik Jarrah and for the neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, it would have gone just like any other neighbourhood, stolen under awful quietness and sadness.”
The attacks on Gaza also resulted in many people in different countries hosting marches in solidarity for Palestine. Shakshak said this gave him the strength to keep pushing on.
“I was in Gaza during the attack and the solidarity I saw and felt, it was what made us keep pushing through.”
Inayet Wadee spoke to Mahmoud Shakshak, an activist at Kuffiya, on Salaamedia. Listen to the full discussion here:
https://youtu.be/2b2pdJJZ4
