Solidarity with Palestinians Resisting Ethnic Cleansing and Violence from Israeli Security Forces
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We condemn the Israeli bombing of civilian areas in Gaza
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Protest rally today 6pm Tuesday 11th May outside Sheffield Town Hall
Sheffield TUC is supporting protest action called tonight by Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Sheffield Labour Friends of Palestine in support of the Palestinian families at imminent risk of forced eviction from their homes in East Jerusalem. This is part of Israel’s ongoing plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and needs urgent international attention. Over the last few days tension has dramatically escalated, with Israeli police violence against Palestinians who are defending their homes from illegal settlers and protesting forced eviction.
“We stand in solidarity with Palestinians facing up to the reality of apartheid in Israel today,” said Martin Mayer Secretary of Sheffield TUC. “What we are seeing in East Jerusalem today is no less than a continuation of the ethnic cleansing that started with the forcible removal of 750,000 Palestinians who became refugees during the initial Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, and continue to be denied their right to return to their homes.”
In 1967 Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem, and Sheikh Jarrah has remained under occupation since then. Unlawfully applying Israeli domestic law to occupied territory, Israeli courts have ruled in favour of lawsuits undertaken by settler organisations to evict the Palestinian families who have now lived there for decades (and who should be property owners under the agreement made between the UN and Jordan).To cement Palestinian dispossession and displacement in East Jerusalem, Israel enacted the racist Legal and Administrative Matters Law in 1970, which – like the Absentees’ Property Law – facilitates the transfer of property from Palestinians to Jews.
“As the tension has escalated with disproportionate violence used against Palestinian protestors, Israeli has launched aerial bombing of residential areas in Gaza. We condemn this brutal military action against Palestinian civilians which would have brought unanimous international condemnation had it happened anywhere else in the world,” said Martin Mayer. “We deplore the reaction of the US Government and other world leaders for ignoring Israel’s violence and instead condemning Palestinians for the crisis.”
“We call on the international community to bring to an end, including through coercive measures such as sanctions, Israel’s occupation, colonisation, and apartheid regime, as well as the prolonged denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes, lands, and property, as mandated by international law,” said Martin Mayer.
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For more information, please contact Martin Mayer Secretary on 0776 1078482
Sheffield TUC supports peace and justice everywhere in the world and will always stand by oppressed peoples standing up for their rights.
Recently Sheffield TUC declared its support for the Sheffield-Nablus Partnership and has been engaging with and supporting trade unionists in Nablus in occupied Palestine.