UN condemns Israel while US remains silent on E al-Quds ethnic cleansing

By Robert Inlakesh

Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer and political analyst, who has lived in and reported from the occupied Palestinian West Bank. He has written for publications such as Mint Press, Mondoweiss, MEMO, and various other outlets. He specializes in analysis of the Middle East, in particular Palestine-Israel. He also works for Press TV as a European correspondent.

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted through four more UN resolutions against Israel, for its violations of international law, this Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva. Yet, despite the UN's condemnation and Israel’s intention to ethnically cleanse up to 2,100 Palestinians from East Jerusalem (al-Quds), the administration of US President Joe Biden is silent

On March 23, the UN Human Rights Council voted to pass a resolution against Israel, calling for an arms embargo and also passed three other resolutions condemning Israel’s settlement activities. Despite this, along with Israel’s plans to further extend their illegal settlement projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds), there is shocking silence on Israel’s plan to commit the largest act of ethnic cleansing on record since 1967 in Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Last year, in both the West Bank and Jerusalem (al-Quds) alone, Israel made roughly 1,000 Palestinians — half of them children — homeless due to illegal home demolitions. This year, in the areas of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, it is possible that we could see as many as 2,100 Palestinians made homeless, and the reasons presented to justify this will shock you.

In Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli settler organizations seek to expel 24 Palestinian families under the pretext of the area having allegedly belonged to Jews prior to 1948. So far, due to rulings from Israel’s ‘Jerusalem Magistrates Court,’ 37 households, from 15 different families, in the Karm al-Jaouni area of Sheik Jarrah are soon to be expelled from their homes. All up 550 people are under threat in Sheikh Jarrah of being ethnically cleansed. This whilst 9 families have already been dispossessed of their homes and in their place Israeli settlers have moved in.

The justification used by settler organizations, which is backed by Israeli law, has not been up for debate in court either. Palestinians from the area have paid tens of thousands fighting the case in court, yet their counter claims have been ignored and thrown out. This is largely due to a racist legal system, under which Israeli Jews have the right to claim property based upon laws, set up in the 1970s, whilst Palestinians have no such right.

Specifically, in the case of Sheikh Jarrah, the excuse offered by the Israeli settler organizations is absolute lunacy. Palestinians living in the area were actually re-located there after they were ethnically cleansed from their native villages by Zionist terrorist gangs in 1948, and the homes built in the area were done so by the Jordanian authorities who took over the area following the war between Arab armies and Israel that year.

Then, in the East Jerusalem (al-Quds) neighbourhood of Silwan, 1,550 Palestinians are to have their homes demolished to make way for ‘The King’s Garden.’ The Israeli settler claim, which has been accepted in court — despite Palestinians having spent 500,000 USD to try and fight it — is that an Israeli king thousands of years ago once had a garden there. It may sound ridiculous, but this is seen by Israeli courts as a legitimate claim and reason to make approximately 800 children homeless.

Israel illegally occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds) in 1967, later illegally annexing the territory in 1980. As a result of an Israeli ministerial committee established in 1967, one of the first decisions declared for the area was to keep the demographic ratio of Jews to Palestinians at 76:24. In order to keep this ratio, Israel has had to utilize its municipalities in order to prevent the natural growth of the native population of the area.

Israel likes to claim Jerusalem (al-Quds) as its “undivided capital” — whilst it is literally partially divided by a segregation wall —  yet 350,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem (al-Quds), are unable to vote in Israeli elections, do not have Israeli passports and instead have ‘Jerusalem ID’ cards. If a Palestinian wishes to get a foreign passport, if they hold that citizenship for over 7 years, they risk expulsion from Jerusalem (al-Quds). It is also nearly impossible for Palestinians to get permits to build houses in East Jerusalem (al-Quds), so many attempt to delay demolition through lengthy and costly court battles, which almost always result in their expulsion.

On a daily basis cases are ongoing in court to demolish more homes, as Israeli routinely forces families out onto the streets in East Jerusalem (al-Quds). But perhaps the most horrendous part of this all, is that there are never any concrete actions taken against Israel for their actions.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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