SHEIKH JARRAH– The community of Sheik Jarrah is once again in the spotlight, this time after a Palestinian family was forcibly removed and had their home demolished in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The family was not allowed to take anything out of the homes and were left without a shelter on one of the coldest nights, according to a human rights activist.
Speaking to Salaamedia, co-ordinator at the Civic Coalition for Human Rights in Jerusalem, Zakaria Odeh, further said the homeowner threatened to set himself alight before the destruction of his home – out of desperation.
“Two days ago, they came and they destroyed the nursery, the car exhibition, the garage and they tried to demolish the two homes, but the owner of the houses put a gas cannister around him and he said that he will burn himself and the house if they try to evict him. So, they just destroyed their businesses the other day. Yesterday, they came at 02:30 in the morning. The weather was -2°C and it was freezing. They attacked the houses with a sound grenade, entered the houses and arrested 20 people and they destroyed the two houses within three hours.”
Odeh explained that this family are actually refugees who were displaced during Al-Nakba and once again it is happening to them.
“The family is a refugee family. They were displaced from Ein Kerem in 1948 as a result of the Al Nakba catastrophe. They are refugees already and they have been living there since 1952 after they were displaced in 1948.”
Odeh expressed his hurt that the international community continues to watch and take no action to put an end to such violations.
“This is really cruel for the people. The Israeli government, which considers itself one of the most democratic states; I mean that’s how they present themselves that it is the democratic state in the Middle East. This is really something which is unacceptable, and you know this is happening under the eyes of the international community. The international community are not doing anything to stop Israeli crimes and violations.”
Inayet Wadee spoke to Zakaria Odeh, co-ordinator at the Civic Coalition for Human Rights in Jerusalem, on News & Views. Listen to the full discussion here:
