ICAHD UK October 2020 Action Bulletin

Awdah al-Hathaleen will be speaking from Um al-Khair located in the South Hebron Hills in Area C at the very bottom of the West Bank. It is an area that Israeli authorities have targeted for home demolitions in its attempt to completely erase the indigenous Palestinian population. In the village of Um al-Khair nearly every building has been demolished at least once and rebuilt by the village. Currently many homes have received demolition orders, but demolitions have also extended to the wood burning stones where villagers bake bread, to solar panels and the lavatories. People in the community live in fear, not knowing when the bulldozers will arrive.

Receive insight from Cody O’Rourke, who works alongside Awdah in the Good Shepherd Collective, on how Regavim is influencing Israeli government policies on the locations of the demolitions and the growth of new settlements. Jeff Halper from ICAHD will provide an update on political developments and how to interpret them.

At a time when the world is becoming more aware of racist policies that have caused division throughout many parts of the world, learn about what can be done to support and empower Palestinians who wish to remain in their homes, resisting demolitions and displacement which are at the core of Israel’s settler-colonialism policies.

Since occupying East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has imposed policies to drive Palestinians from the city, including through home demolition, eviction and forced displacement. Amal Sumarin, and her extended family face eviction from the home they have lived in for decades. The eviction is being pursued in the Israeli courts by Himanuta, a subsidiary of the Jewish National Fund. JNF UK has charity status in this country.

The attempted eviction of the family has caused international outcry, including in the UK, with a cross-party group of 71 MPs endorsing Early Day Motion 529 condemning the eviction, and urging the UK government to uphold human rights and international law.

Amal Sumarin will be joined by Israeli human rights activist Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Torat Tzedek, Dr Yousef Jabareen, Member of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) for the Joint List, and Richard Burgon, Labour Party MP for Leeds East. The speakers will describe why the Sumarin family case is of importance across all of occupied East Jerusalem and internationally and will set the actions of the JNF in a political and historical context.

Register for this meeting here .

Please urge your MP to join; you can check if s/he has signed EDM 529 on this matter here .

The Israeli Embassy issued a statement claiming that the state of Israel has no part in East Jerusalem evictions, which is a disingenuous attempt to deflect responsibility. See our full response to this argument here .

Fearing donor wrath, JNF attempts to distance itself from settler organization Elad, which in response threatens individual legal action against board members of JNF subsidiary.

A tiny campaign to stop these crimes has become enormous – thanks first to ICAHD UK members and now to social workers and mental health professionals.

Protecting Palestinian Families began by approaching JCB in March last year (2019).

Co-owner Lady Carole Bamford was on record as giving thousands to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Indeed, the house where abused children receive the support they desperately need is called Carole House.

So, a carefully crafted letter was sent, acknowledging her benevolence but informing her of the destruction and devastation her products wreaked on innocent families, asking her to cut the company’s ties with Israel.

She didn’t answer so then it was time to ask the NSPCC to cut ties with JCB – how could they possibly accept money earned by traumatising Palestinian children?

A protracted correspondence ensued. CEO Peter Wanless brushed the first letter aside. Then each of the trustees was approached individually.

This time the respondent at least stated the charity’s ethical policy which meant they could not take money made by slavery, human trafficking or child labour. Money made from leaving children traumatised, homeless and impoverished in Palestine was apparently all right.

Dame Esther Rantzen was approached – her life-saving initiative ChildLine is now incorporated into the NSPCC – but she did not answer.

Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) has announced that UK National Contact Point (a government body which is part of the Department for International Trade) has just published its Initital Assessment decision on the human rights complaint against JCB under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

The UK National Contact Point has accepted that key aspects of the LPHR complaint are "material and substantiated", in relation to the use of JCB's heavy machinery in Israel's illegal demolitions and settlement-related construction in the occupied Palestinian territory that result in serious human rights violations.

This news strengthens the arguments that ICAHD UK has made to the NSPCC in our call for it to stop taking tarnished money from JCB. In addition, it also adds weight to our campaign for JCB as we have called for it to stipulate to its Israeli customers that JCB equipment is not to be used in the demolition of Palestinian homes and structures.

To read the LPHR press release click here .

To learn more about ICAHD UK's campaigns involving JCB and the NSPCC follow this link . September Demolitions and Displacement in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and State of Israel

Photo B'tsalem

During September, most demolitions took place in East Jerusalem, Hebron and in areas around Ramallah. The reason given was that the families had not obtained a building permit however Israel rarely grants building permits to Palestinians while it presses ahead with constructing hundreds of settlement units, all illegal under international law. In addition, on 17^th September the community of Al-Araqib in the Naqab/Negev Desert was demolished for the 178^th time since July 2010.

At the beginning of September, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled in favour of a lawsuit filed by people from Ateret Cohanim settlers’ group to evict a family of 26 from their home in Batan Al-Hawa in Silwan, East Jerusalem. The lawsuit is one of a series of dozens of eviction lawsuits against nearly 100 Palestinian families living in Batan al-Hawa, putting a community of 700 people in danger of being evicted.

Dr Sami Owaida from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

Many thanks for your ongoing support. If you're not already a member of ICAHD UK, please consider joining us to enable our campaign to spread at this critical time in history. From all at ICAHD UK

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