Police vow to squash East Jerusalem protests despite court order
Jerusalem Magistrate's Court criticized police's forceful response against 'legal' Sheikh Jarrah protests.
By Nir Hasson Tags: Israel newsDespite a court ruling to the contrary, Jerusalem police said Thursday that it plans on forcibly putting down on a left-wing demonstration against a Jewish takeover of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.
Public demonstrations and protests by left-wing activists angry over the eviction of Arab families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah are legal so long as they do not disturb the public order and disrupt traffic, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled on Thursday.
Nationalist Jews won legal rights to ownership of the homes in Sheikh Jarrah through the use of documents dating from the period of the British mandate in Palestine.
To date, more than 70 people have been arrested during demonstrations at Sheikh Jarrah. The demonstrations are organized by groups of independent activists.
In recent weeks the police and the activists had reached an agreement that the demonstrators would be granted permits, and consequently the demonstrations have been relatively uneventful.
However, the activists say they were not given a permit for the last demonstration because a day earlier a different event had taken place that included a rap party with groups singing in Arabic.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court rejected the police's request for a restraining order against 18 individuals who were arrested during the protests. The court did, however, bar them from protests which are deemed illegal.
The attorney representing the jailed activists, Michael Sfard, said he was satisfied with the court's ruling, declaring it "a major victory" for the protesters.
This is the second time that the court has censured the police for its conduct in breaking up the Sheikh Jarrah protests, which have been staged on a weekly basis. Despite the court ruling, Jerusalem police officials say they're determined to disperse Friday's protest.
The top legal adviser to the Jerusalem police district sent a letter Thursday to his counterpart at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, one of the demonstration's organizers.
According to the letter, Jerusalem police plan to break up the protest by force beginning at 3:30 P.M. The demonstration itself is scheduled to begin at 3:00 P.M.
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with your one-eyed thesis...even though its the basis of the article's headline, and its mentioned several times in the text. clue: a legal system that's ignored by the government, the military, and the police, is NOT working as well as you seem to think.
The court order was to stop the Israeli police from preventing the protests by the Palestinians. The Pals won the court case! This particular case was NOT about property rights of the Palestinians. It does help if you read before you comment.
I take it your question is rhetorical. Isrel is a state for Jews in a way it is not for non-Jews. The Palestinian residents of West Jerusalem, driven out by zionist forces in '47-48 do not regain their property. Israel considers it abandoned and they have taken possession. If Jews in Palestinian areas have title deeds to property, then the Arabs must be driven out from those properties for Jews to take over. But the reverse does not apply. Race, religion and ethnicity trump all else and it only works one way. Even when the government promises redress as in Baram, Ikrit, they refuse to implement since it will set up precedent and expose their racist policies.
Well, even a court order doesn't stop the expulsion of Palestianians from their own houses. Shame on Israel!!!
There are lots of Palestinians with "documents dating from the period of the British Mandate" and earlier.Do they get to move back into their properties in W. Jerusalem ? If not, why not ??
... and other West Jerusalems suburbs, would never even be allowed to entertain the idea of legally recovering their precious lost property... ... apparently all's-fair-in-love-and-war applies only to Israel that appropriated those properties, to be handed over to Jewish citizens...
Often here on these talkback boards Israel is criticized for a myriad of complaints. But as we see here their court system, widely respected worldwide for fairness, has proved once again that it is a fair and as unbiased a system as can be expected anywhere. This of course not the first time Israel's court system has sided with the Palestinian point of view. Whether it's protests, housing issues, Israeli only roads, Roadblocks the court system has consistently upheld a neutral point of view when applying the law. Along with Israel's open and free press, Israel should be regarded as a model for a fair democracy. No country has ever been perfect, and Israel certainly is not perfect, but they do try. Here is the proof, again.
No comments and objections from the usual apologists? Thought so. This is obviosly the Israel we all love and cherish.