A History of Political Tension
The UNRWA says the majority of the Palestinians under threat of eviction were relocated to Sheikh Jarrah under a sponsored housing scheme in 1956.
A spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner issued the following statement:
“In practice, the implementation of these laws facilitates the transfer by Israel of its population into occupied east Jerusalem. The transfer of parts of an occupying power’s civilian population into the territory that it occupies is prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime.”
In a televised statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the criticism:
“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, and just as every nation builds in its capital and builds up its capital, we also have the right to build in Jerusalem and to build up Jerusalem. That is what we have done and that is what we will continue to do.”
Earlier last month, Jerusalem City Council member Yonatan Yosef, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah, told The Times of Israel:
“For me, history begins thousands of years ago, when Shimon Hatzadik was buried there. Shimon Hatzadik was a Jewish neighbourhood, is a Jewish neighbourhood and will stay Jewish.”
The European Union and the United States have also expressed concerns over the case and the rising tensions in the region.
Tensions Today / Current Events
Since the last eviction in 2009, there have been steady protests in East Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah — by both Israeli and Palestinian activists — over the evictions. At their peak in 2011, thousands were taking part in demonstrations after Friday prayers.
After nearly a decade of quiet, the situation has since escalated with tensions reaching a boiling point ahead of the expected Supreme Court ruling.
Tensions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood began in May after the Jerusalem District Court denied an appeal against a decision to evict a number of Palestinian residents of the neighborhood from their homes. The court ruled that the current residents had not paid the required rent for many years and had not been able to disprove the claims of the Jewish Israelis to the property.
Friday night worshippers left the Al Aqsa mosque complex chanting “bomb Tel Aviv” and clashed heavily with police in some of the city’s worst violence in years. More than 200 Palestinians and 17 Israeli police officers were wounded. Officials estimate that 90,000 people attended evening prayers that night.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israeli news outlet Kan the following day that “a kind of intifada is brewing, which is possible to prevent.”
The following night there were more riots by Palestinians following evening prays at Al Aqsa mosque and more than 100 were injured.
A senior Hamas official tweeted over the weekend: “We salute the people of al-Aqsa, who oppose the arrogance of the Zionists, and we call on our people in Palestine to support their brothers by all means.”
Hamas has also responded by firing several rockets into Israel from Gaza and setting fire to several areas in the south of Israel.
Israeli officials also say that they thwarted a “major attack” by terrorists in the West Bank on Friday. Two out of three suspects were killed after they opened fire toward a Border Police officer. Earlier in the week, a 19 year old Jewish teen Yehuda Guetta was killed, and two others were seriously injured (they were also 19), in a driveby shooting in the West Bank.
Hamas issued an ultimatum that if Israeli security forces didn’t leave the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood by 6 p.m., it would attack Israel. Just after 6 p.m. Hamas launched seven rockets towards Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, forcing thousands of Israelis to run to bomb shelters, including those marching in the Flag March in Jerusalem while celebrating Jerusalem Day. Hamas also fired a barrage of rockets toward Ashkelon and communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. Israel responded by attacking Hamas targets in northern Gaza. Islamic Jihad has threatened to resume the firing.
On Sunday night (June 20, 2021), Jewish Israelis and Palestinians clashed in Sheikh Jarrah, with Palestinian media reporting that Israelis attacked the homes of Arab residents in the neighborhood, sparking clashes between the two sides. Despite the reports, video footage published by the Otzma Yehudit party showed Jewish residents sitting around a table as Palestinians threw chairs at them and other objects at them before the Jewish residents threw the chairs back.
Despite a ceasefire that ended the conflict, in recent days Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip have renewed launches of incendiary balloons towards Israel, sparking a number of fires. The IDF has conducted multiple airstrikes in Gaza in response.
Additionally, on Sunday night, the rioters referring to themselves as "night confusion units" burned tires and made loud noises near the Evyatar outpost outside of Beita in the West Bank for the second night in a row, according to Palestinian media.They told Palestinian media that they burned the tires in order that the smoke and the smell of the rubber disturb the settlers in the outpost. The rioters also use laser lights to flash on the outpost, as well as Molotov cocktails and loud noises.
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