Palestinian groups launch campaign to stop expulsion of Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem

Date: 21 / 06 / 2008  Time:  18:06
Jerusalem - Ma'an -

A network of eighteen Palestinian human rights NGOs launched a campaign on Saturday to mobilize the international community to end Israel’s de facto expulsion of Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem.

The Civic Coalition for Jerusalem is calling on activists and governments around the world to take concrete action to pressure Israel into ending violations against Palestinians' housing and residency rights in the city.

According to the Civic Coalition’s newly-released human rights bulletin for May, seven Palestinian homes were bulldozed in Jerusalem last month, part of a sustained campaign of demolition since January. The Coalitions sees the demolitions as part of a wider picture of rapid settlement expansion and punitive restrictions on Palestinian communities designed to ‘Judaize’ Jerusalem.

Khalil Tukfaji, member of the Stop the Expulsion campaign committee and planning expert, said:

“The Jerusalem master plan for 2020 aims for 40,000 homes, mainly for Jews in Jerusalem. There will be some development for Palestinians, but the aim of the master plan is to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and minimize the number of Palestinians in the city. So far this year, there have been 7000 tenders for settlement housing units in Jerusalem, so we can see that the Israeli municipality is now implementing this plan.”

Jamal Juma’, member of Stop the Expulsion campaign committee, and Coordinator of the Stop the Wall campaign said:

“We have had sixty years of UN Resolutions, sixty years of statements and condemnation of Israel’s policies of annexation and Judaization in Jerusalem. Last week plans for thousands new homes were announced for settlements in Jerusalem, drawing the usual half hearted condemnations from European leaders. And then what does the EU do? In the same week it unanimously upgrades its economic and diplomatic relationship with the occupying power. This is hypocrisy on a massive scale.

“We are calling for nothing more than respect basic principles of justice and humanity.”

The Coalition will be targeting multinational corporations who provide their services to assist the occupation of Jerusalem, and coordinating with activists internationally to hold their governments to account over Israel’s impunity.