YWCA of Palestine and World YWCA call for action to end forced eviction of Palestinians in East Jerusalem

In the early morning of Sunday August 2, 2009 Israeli police, accompanied by members of the Israeli occupation forces, forcibly evicted eight Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel, as the occupying power in East Jerusalem, is prohibited under international humanitarian law from destroying private property unless such destruction is considered necessary for military operations. But for many Palestinians, their homes are under constant threat of destruction. The Hanoun and Ghawi families, evicted on Sunday to make room for Jewish settlers, are the latest victims of Israel’s illegal settlement plan across East Jerusalem. The Hanoun family is next door to the YWCA of Jerusalem, the national headquarters of the YWCA of Palestine.

The YWCA of Palestine in East Jerusalem provides vocational and leadership training for women and girls. “You should see the street of the YWCA, tons of police cars and police,” said Mira Rizek, General Secretary YWCA of Palestine, as she described the scene the following day, “There are Israelis, peace groups, foreigners, press and Palestinians, of course, sitting opposite the house as a strike in. The police are not allowing anyone to get close to the site. The house is exactly the next house to the YWCA—the wall of their house is our wall as well, so you can imagine the feeling we have now and the risks we are anticipating.”

According to a press release from the Civic Coalition for Defending Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, the houses destroyed on Sunday were built by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) under a joint construction project with the Jordanian government in 1956, 11 years prior to the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem. But both the District Court and the High Court of Justice have justified these evictions by declaring that the houses are built on disputed land.

The World YWCA calls on the YWCA movement and partners to take immediate action and advocate for an end to forced eviction and house demolition in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Territories of Palestine. The World YWCA Council has adopted several resolutions on the Middle East; the 2007 resolution called on the YWCA movement to recognise how the escalating military aggression in the Middle East is adversely affecting the Israeli and Arab Peoples, especially women and children. The resolution further urges for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 that calls for the engagement and empowerment of women in conflict resolution.

Call on the Government of Israel to stop evictions from and demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and the continuing Israeli military occupation.
Renew calls for solidarity from the international community and governments, particularly signatories to the Geneva Conventions, to encourage and assist the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to reach just and sustainable peace in the Holy Land.
Call on your media and demand that they expose this humanitarian disaster.
Continue to advocate for a solution that addresses the root causes of the conflict in the Middle East and violations of human rights in the region.
Continue to pray for peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.