UPDATE:
Continued pressure works – now we need more! Israeli courts have stayed demolition orders for all but 16 homes in the collective lawsuit in #Silwan. The court’s decision to delay demolition of the remaining homes until February 2022 aims to fragment grief and dilute resistance to expulsion. None of the 97 homes under demolition order in Al Bustan, Silwan, Jerusalem, – including the 49 homes that were up for demolition starting this Sunday – are safe.
Tactics that protract processes of destruction shall not stop us. Demand ALL Palestinian homes be fully safe!
We need you now to save the remaining 16 homes and end the extenuating ethnic cleansing practices of Israeli apartheid.
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On Sunday, August 15, the deadline for 49 homes in Al Bustan neighbourhood, in Silwan, Jerusalem, expires. The Palestinian families had been ordered to demolish their homes before then.
Amany Odeh, a dentist and a mother of two, is one of the people that may lose their home any time after August 15:
“They want to force us to demolish the house with our hands; something we refuse to do. My parents’ home faces a similar destiny as mine. They want to empty the neighborhood from its Palestinian inhabitants. This amounts to mass forcible expulsion.”
Please help us to mobilize public opinion and your governments to avoid the destruction of more lives.
See below what you can do.
Al Bustan neighborhood lies at the heart of Silwan. On its 70 dunams (appr. 17 acres) of land, live about 1550 people. 97 of their homes are threatened with demolition.
On the ruins of Palestinian homes in Al Bustan, the Israeli occupation authorities will create a ‘biblical garden’. Officially, the Jerusalem Municipality has changed the name of the neighborhood from Al Bustan to the ‘Garden of King David.’
Israel’s policies in Jerusalem are an integral part of its settler colonial project, which it promotes by implementing a vicious apartheid regime against the entire Palestinian people.
Palestinians in Jerusalem are subjected to repression and denial of social, political, cultural and human rights in order to guarantee the supremacy of Jewish-Israeli citizens anywhere in Jerusalem over the indigenous population.
#RaiseYourVoice for Al Bustan:
- Send a letter to your consulates to the Palestinian Authority and Israel urging them to urgently visit Al Bustan and demand Israel cancels all the demolition orders as part of their obligation to uphold International Law and Human Rights. Please see a sample letter below.
- Tag and contact your representatives in the parliament/congress and call on them to immediately denounce the ethnic cleansing of the families in Al Bustan and Jerusalem and exert pressure on their governments to take urgent, concrete and effective action. Please see sample tweets below.
- Before and on August, flood the social media platforms with the #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice and #MakeNoiseForSilwan hashtags and share messages from Al Bustan that we will share on our twitter, instagram and Facebook.
Sample letter
Dear [INSERT NAME OF CONSULATE],
On August 15, was the deadline for self-demolition of 49 homes in Al Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. Just days from the deadline, an Israeli court has reduced the number of Palestinian homes to be under immediate demolition to 16 – this is progress due to international pressure but this is far from a solution.
The families in these 16 homes are then every day awaiting the destruction of their homes and lives and their forcible expulsion from Al Bustan. The remaining will continuing to live with looming ethnic cleansing until February 2022, when as well their homes will be scheduled for demolition.
This Israeli policy of protraction of destruction and fragmentation of grief aims at diluting opposition to what is and stays a massive policy of ethnic cleansing.
I ask you to demand the complete cancellation of all demolition orders and ensure international continues to make an impact and continues to grow until all Palestinian homes are safe.
The imminent destruction of the 16 homes is in violation of the IV Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of private property, the forcible transfer of a population, or the evictions of residents under occupation, among others.
Israel’s policies in Jerusalem are an integral part of its settler colonial project, which has installed a vicious apartheid regime against the entire Palestinian people. The expropriation of people and communities and the denial of residency rights on racial basis is a core element of the crime of apartheid and yet another move of trampling on International Law.
Israeli apartheid policies have been green-lit thanks to the long-standing silence and complicity of the international community. In violation of international law, institutions, corporations and states continue to economically, politically and militarily aid and assist Israel in the abuse of Palestinian human rights.
This also includes organizations run by illegal settlers and/or founded in order to enable and promote Israel’s illegal settlement policies. Some of them may hold charitable status in our country as they operate mainly with foreign funding and collect money abroad.
As you represent our country, I ask you to move beyond words of condemnation, demand Israel to immediately cancel all the demolition orders and urgently visit the locations. Your presence is an important witness and represents a message of respect for Palestinian human rights and International Law.
Sincerely yours,
Sample tweets
(1) to consulates:
- On August 15, 16 Palestinian homes will be up for demolition in AlBustan #SaveSilwan, #Jerusalem. I ask you [@tag your consulate to Palestine/Israel] to go and visit Silwan and take action to save Palestinian homes. #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice.
- Our country has been complicit in entrenching Israeli apartheid regime. [@tag your consulate to Palestine/Israel], end this complicity and be with the Palestinian families from #Silwan that may lose their homes starting August 15. #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice.
- .[@tag consulate to Palestine/Israel], say NO to Israeli apartheid policies and take effective action to stop the demolition of 16 Palestinian homes in #Silwan, Jerusalem. #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice.
(2) to representatives in congress/parliaments:
- Silence towards Israeli crimes against Palestinians emboldens Israel to violate the rights of Palestinian families to their homes in #Silwan, Jerusalem. [@tag your rep.] Pressure Israel to stop the destruction of another 16 homes. #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice
- On August 15, 16 Palestinian homes in #Silwan are up for demolition, the families to be thrown out into the streets. Do your duty towards human rights and demand our country ends its complicity. #SaveSilwan #RaiseYourVoice