{"id":255333,"date":"2021-07-01T12:19:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T16:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=255333"},"modified":"2021-07-08T12:41:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T16:41:11","slug":"amid-international-inaction-israels-systematic-demographic-engineering-thwarting-palestinians-ability-to-pursue-justice-speakers-tell-international-conference-ceirpp-press-re","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/amid-international-inaction-israels-systematic-demographic-engineering-thwarting-palestinians-ability-to-pursue-justice-speakers-tell-international-conference-ceirpp-press-re\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid International Inaction, Israel\u2019s Systematic “Demographic Engineering” Thwarting Palestinians\u2019 Ability to Pursue Justice, Speakers Tell International Conference – CEIRPP Press Release (GA\/PAL\/1439)"},"content":{"rendered":"

GA\/PAL\/1439<\/strong>
\n1 JULY 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Video<\/a><\/p>\n

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ais\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

East Jerusalem Crisis \u2018Far from Over\u2019, Under-Secretary-General Says,\u00a0Warning Threats to Status Quo in Holy City Can Have Severe Global Repercussions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Home demolitions, evictions and the denial of citizenship are just some of the ways Israel has pursued its systematic policy of \u201cdemographic engineering\u201d over 54\u00a0years, participants in the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem said today, raising questions about how Palestinians can pursue justice\u00a0\u2014 let alone live secure lives \u2014 in the face of international inaction.<\/p>\n

The International Conference \u2014 held in virtual format under the theme \u201cForced demographic change in Jerusalem:\u00a0 Grave breaches and a threat to peace\u201d \u2014 was organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, with support from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation\u00a0(OIC).\u00a0 It featured a panel discussion with community representatives and leading experts who provided an account of the situation on the ground and spoke to the legal, administrative and political arguments used to justify decades of Palestinian marginalization.<\/p>\n

The panellists included: \u00a0Lara Friedman, Foundation for Middle East Peace; Michael Lynk, Â鶹APP Special Rapporteur; Suma Qawasmi, Sheikh Jarrah community leader; Nivine Sandouka, Hoqoqna \u2014 Our Rights East Jerusalem; and Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, Human Rights Attorney.<\/p>\n

In opening remarks, Rosemary DiCarlo, Â鶹APP Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, said the theme is particularly relevant, as the forced displacement of Palestine refugee families in occupied East Jerusalem catalysed events that culminated in 11\u00a0days of deadly armed conflict in May.\u00a0 The Gaza war, the third since\u00a02008, claimed many lives, predominantly Palestinians, she said, noting that Palestinian protests, Israel\u2019s heavy-handed response and clashes around the Aqsa Mosque compound brought tensions to a \u201cwhole new level\u201d.<\/p>\n

The crisis is far from over, she said, describing Jerusalem as \u201ca powder keg\u201d, with those who are willing to play with fire.\u00a0 She pointed to the provocative \u201cflag march\u201d by extremist Israelis chanting racist slogans through East Jerusalem, which brought about new clashes.\u00a0 She called on all sides to respect the status quo of Jerusalem holy sites venerated by billions of believers worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny threat or perceived threat to the physical integrity of the holy sites can have severe global repercussions,\u201d she said, expressing hope that Israel\u2019s incoming Government will act responsibly.\u00a0 She urged Israel to cease demolitions, evictions and illegal settlement activities, stressing that measures to change Jerusalem\u2019s status and demographic composition are without legal validity and should be firmly rejected by the international community.<\/p>\n

\u201cCeasefires and a patchwork of interim agreements are no substitute for a permanent status agreement, which will end the conflict,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n

Palestinians are not resigned to their fate of perpetual occupation.\u00a0 She urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders, supported by a revitalized Quartet on the Middle East, to recommit to credible negotiations that address all outstanding permanent\u2011status issues, ushering in the vision of two States, based on\u00a01967 borders, with Jerusalem as a shared capital and Gaza fully integrated into the future Palestinian State through a credible, time-bound national reconciliation process.<\/p>\n

Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, similarly pointed out that Palestinians \u2014 both in occupied East Jerusalem and throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory \u2014 are facing massive aggression at the hands of Israel\u2019s occupying authorities.\u00a0 This antagonism has extended to the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan and is indicative of Israel\u2019s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians within both the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel itself.<\/p>\n

If the international community is serious about adhering to international law and Security Council resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016), it cannot merely reiterate these principles while the occupying Power commits crimes with impunity, he asserted.\u00a0 Questioning what is being done \u2014 after 54\u00a0years of occupation \u2014 to defend international law and implement relevant Council resolutions, he called on the international community to act, rather than advocate for restraint as Israel kills civilians.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, he said, it is unfair to continue asking Palestinians to do certain things, as they are frustrated and resentful under the current abhorrent system of occupation.\u00a0 \u201cEnough is enough,\u201d he insisted.\u00a0 It is time for the International Criminal Court to expedite its investigation into war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n

Cheikh Niang (Senegal), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said Israel\u2019s settlement activities throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem \u2014 including the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan \u2014 present a major obstacle to peace, threatening in particular Palestinians\u2019 rights to self-determination and return.<\/p>\n

He said Jewish settlers have been evicting Palestinian residents from their homes under the protection of Israel\u2019s security forces as thousands marched, yelling hate speech, to the gate of the Muslim quarter in the Old City.\u00a0 He stressed that a two-State solution, leading to a long\u2011overdue Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital, is the only viable way to achieve peace.<\/p>\n

Samir Bakr, Assistant Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for Palestine and Al-Quds Affairs, likewise affirmed that the absence of dissuasive international measures has emboldened Israel to carry on with its violations.\u00a0 He called on the international community to activate legal mechanisms to guarantee Israel\u2019s accountability and take all measures necessary to pressure Israel into honouring its obligations under international law.<\/p>\n

Emphasizing that Jerusalem has been an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied since\u00a01967 \u2014 and that its annexation is illegal, null and void\u00a0\u2014 he cautioned against taking actions that legitimize Israel\u2019s pernicious moves to change the demographic, political, legal and historical status of the holy city.\u00a0 The Security Council must ensure compliance with its resolutions, halt Israel’s settlement and ethnic cleansing policies, and thereby avert dire repercussions that could plunge the already volatile region into a cycle of violence.<\/p>\n

Panel Discussion<\/u><\/p>\n

Ms. FRIEDMAN emphasized that the events unfolding in Jerusalem are not new, adding that \u201cpeople tend to start paying attention to Jerusalem when things blow up\u201d.\u00a0 What is happening today has occurred daily, in various forms, since\u00a01967, when Israel took control of East Jerusalem and began its policy of demographic engineering after the 1967\u00a0war.\u00a0 These policies have ebbed and flowed over 54\u00a0years, and along with them, international engagement.\u00a0 The current reality is the logical and inevitable result of Israel working with ideologically motivated actors both inside and outside the country to implement a systematic policy of demographic engineering with total impunity.<\/p>\n

She said events in Sheik Jarrah and Silwan speak directly to the question of who has the right to return, noting that Israel\u2019s assessment is that Israelis can return to properties lost pre-1948, but Palestinians cannot.\u00a0 The national narrative that \u201cGod is on Israel\u2019s side\u201d feeds into the irreversibility of its control over the city. \u00a0In\u00a01948, Israel took possession of the western part of Jerusalem, whose Palestinian residents had fled or been expelled.\u00a0 In\u00a01967, when Israel took over East Jerusalem, its Palestinian inhabitants could not be removed en masse.\u00a0 \u201cIf you say you have sole sovereignty in Jerusalem,\u201d she explained, it matters to be able to say that the population is Jewish majority.\u00a0 Palestinians inside Israel after\u00a01948 were given Israeli citizenship, but Palestinians in East Jerusalem were not, leaving them in the legal limbo of permanent resident status.\u00a0 Palestinians born in East Jerusalem, whose families have been there for decades, today have the status of foreigners holding the \u201cprivilege\u201d of living there, which can be rescinded at any time.<\/p>\n

After\u00a01967, she said various means were used to take land in East Jerusalem, grounds that were then used for building Government-backed settlements.\u00a0 \u201cThere is nothing accidental about settlements in East Jerusalem,\u201d she said.\u00a0 They were built to anchor the entire area to Israel through a \u201cDNA strand that can never be pulled apart\u201d.\u00a0 Later, the idea of \u201cgreater Jerusalem\u201d was pursued, leaving a huge part of the West Bank to be treated as such through policies that targeted Palestinian homes inside and around the Old City, with the Government working both legally and illegally with private actors to that end.\u00a0 Today, the absentee property law is being weaponized to take land, along with the Jewish right of return, which is being pursued in Hebron and East Jerusalem alike.\u00a0 Identification cards are being taken from Palestinians and housing limitations now prevent them from building homes.\u00a0 While these and other acts over 54\u00a0years have sowed enormous anger, resentment and hopelessness, they have not succeeded in pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

She described events unfolding today as a clashing of Israeli policies that are reaching their logical conclusion after 54\u00a0years of impunity.\u00a0 Because the international community only offers empty rhetoric, it would be irrational to expect Israel to behave differently.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is left?\u201d, she asked.\u00a0 \u201cWhere do Palestinians go for justice?\u201d\u00a0 To expect them to pursue their claims in Israel\u2019s High Court of Justice is \u201cdelusional\u201d, as the judicial body has proven over decades that it is unwilling to rule on the principles underlying Israel\u2019s policies.\u00a0 Any small gains made have been achieved on technicalities, rather than because collective punishment is illegal and immoral, she said, underscoring a fundamental conflict between the rights of Palestinians, the obligations of international law and what is happening on the ground.<\/p>\n

MS. QAWASMI described events unfolding in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood where she lives as ethnic cleansing \u2014 and simply another chapter of Israel\u2019s modern military occupation.\u00a0 The neighbourhood is home to 28\u00a0Palestinian families who have lived there since\u00a01956, following an agreement with Jordan, which provided the land.\u00a0 These families had been forcibly uprooted from their homes in historical Palestine in\u00a01948.\u00a0 Following Israel\u2019s illegal annexation in\u00a01967, the neighbourhood has faced illegal claims of ownership and forced displacement, backed by Israel\u2019s discriminatory policies.\u00a0 \u201cWe are trying to prevent settlers from taking over Palestinian homes,\u201d she said, objecting to the unjustified use of force by Israel\u2019s Defense Forces to stop people from speaking up.\u00a0 \u201cWe decided we are going to help our parents and grandparents keep their houses,\u201d she said, stressing that the world cannot continue to turn a blind eye to Palestinians\u2019 basic human rights.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t want to experience the Nakba again,\u201d she stressed.<\/p>\n

Ms. SCHAEFFER OMER-MAN said the 100-plus legal proceedings over the years concerning Sheikh Jarrah can be roughly divided between the plight of those living in the eastern and western parts of the neighborhood.\u00a0 In eastern Sheikh Jarrah, an agreement in place since the\u00a01980s created a protected tenancy for the Palestinians living there \u2014 not ownership rights \u2014 and while this may have kept many in their homes, it allowed their residency to be subject to the will of settler committees that have evicted many on procedural grounds ever since.\u00a0 The western part, on the other hand, has been subject to a years-long battle to prove the status of the land, centered on competing claims of public ownership versus title granted to Jewish tenants by Jordanian authorities.\u00a0 She said that the problem inherent in discussing these details is that it requires stepping into the Israeli legal framework, which treats the subject of Palestinian evictions as a real-estate issue.\u00a0 This situation \u2014 rampant across the Occupied Palestinian Territory \u2014 is representative of a larger trend to rewrite international law out of the Israeli legal framework as that country fulfils a clear demographic policy through \u201ccreeping legal annexation\u201d that departs starkly from international law.\u00a0 She called on the international community to support the International Criminal Court in its investigations into this issue and on States to ensure that private actors are not complicit in these practices.<\/p>\n

Ms. SANDOUKA, noting that the new Israeli Government\u2019s intentions towards East Jerusalem are still unknown, pointed out that the previous Government emphasized the Jewish element of Israel\u2019s identity and worked to eliminate any mention of Palestinian identity or narrative in school curricula.\u00a0 Further, even though Palestinians comprise 60\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the population in East Jerusalem, they have only received 30 per cent of building permits issued, and Palestinian neighborhoods have not naturally expanded since\u00a01967.\u00a0 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are considered residents \u2014 not citizens \u2014 so if they live or travel outside of the city for a period of time, or marry a person with Palestinian citizenship, they have their residency revoked despite paying taxes.\u00a0 She also detailed the shrinking space for civil society actors in Jerusalem, pointing out that, since\u00a02016, Palestinian civil society organizations must report their sources of funding, and are subject to closure or prosecution if such funding comes from places deemed unfriendly to Israel or if they express a viewpoint critical of Israeli policies.\u00a0 Underscoring that the Â鶹APP has not assumed its responsibility to protect civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory \u2014 the \u201ccornerstone of any peace process\u201d \u2014 she called on the international community to provide funding and the opportunity for advocacy, to hold Israel accountable for the poor living conditions in East Jerusalem and to support peace activists on the ground.<\/p>\n

Mr. LYNK said that, by looking at a map, one can see that Jewish Israeli settlements encircle Palestinian East Jerusalem, blocking off the Palestinian West Bank like a fortress, while a separation wall weaves in such a way as to maximize Israeli settlements and minimize the number of Palestinians living within it.\u00a0 The Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhoods are adjacent to the Old City.\u00a0 However, Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem are citizens of Israel, while Palestinians hold permanent resident status \u2014 meaning they cannot vote and have no voice in what is happening around them.\u00a0 Because it is so difficult for them to receive housing permits, their neighbourhoods are twice as dense.\u00a0 Stressing that the goal is to make it demographically and politically impossible for Palestinians to return East Jerusalem as the capital of their own State, he said the Security Council and the General Assembly both have stated that East Jerusalem is occupied, that annexation is null and void, and that Israel\u2019s attempts to demographically change that area violate the fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids such confiscation of property except when rendered \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Offering a legislative account, he said that, in\u00a01950, Israel\u2019s Knesset passed the Absentee Property Law, stating that Palestinians who fled during the 1948\u00a0war cannot recover their property.\u00a0 It then passed the Legal and Administrative Matters Law in\u00a01970, stating that Jews who lost their property in the 1948\u00a0war can reclaim their property.\u00a0 He pointed out that the tensions that led to violence in Gaza in May arise, in part, from these incessant claims by Israeli settlers in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, which have left hundreds of Palestinians facing the loss of homes they have had since the\u00a01950s, and thus, an insecure status.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s courts do not recognize or apply international law, seldom protecting those who deserve protection under the fourth Geneva Convention and applying the\u00a01970 law in ways that validate their rulings.\u00a0 He drew attention to Security Council resolution\u00a0476\u00a0(1980), stating that Israel\u2019s occupation \u2014 then only 13\u00a0years old \u2014 is already prolonged and that there is an \u201coverwhelming necessity\u201d to end it.\u00a0 The Council had condemned Israel\u2019s defiance of its own resolutions; stated that any proposed annexation of East Jerusalem is illegal, null and void; and threatened accountability.\u00a0 If that was the case in\u00a01980, \u201cwhat are we to say now?\u201d, he wondered, stressing that the occupation is now indistinguishable from annexation and has acquired apartheid features.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing dialogue, the Committee Chair relayed questions from the wider virtual audience about why the term \u201cforced demographic change\u201d is used more so than \u201cillegal occupation\u201d, and how to incorporate international law principles\u00a0\u2014 and their violation of them \u2014 into the framework of the solution.\u00a0 The session also heard commentary by several delegates, with\u00a0Indonesia<\/u>\u2019s representative underscoring the priority need to address Israel\u2019s occupation.\u00a0 A solution can only be reached through multilateral dialogue and the revival of peace talks, he said, stressing that there should be no impunity for human rights violations.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0Egypt<\/u>\u00a0said Israel\u2019s continued unilateral measures \u2014 including settlement activities in East Jerusalem \u2014 jeopardize the two-State solution.\u00a0 He called on Israel to uphold its obligations under international law and to offer protection to Palestinians from extremist Jewish groups.\u00a0 Escalation of violence presents the need for a reinvigorated peace process and settlement of the Palestinian question, in line with resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016), the Arab Peace Initiative and a two-State solution.\u00a0 He also underscored the importance of the Â鶹APP in helping the International Quartet on Peace in the Middle East to advance negotiations.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0Turkey<\/u>\u00a0warned that, unless the causes of violence are addressed, fighting will reoccur.\u00a0 She expressed concern over demolitions in Silwan and stressed that families in Sheikh Jarrah now face eviction.\u00a0 She pointed to a Human Rights Council resolution adopted in May which established a commission of inquiry to investigate instances of repression based on national, racial and religious identity, underscoring the need to pursue all possible avenues for accountability.<\/p>\n

The representative of\u00a0Tunisia<\/u>\u00a0recalled that administrative measures taken by the occupying Power to alter Jerusalem have no legal validity, expressing concern that looming evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan only are exacerbating the situation.\u00a0 He called for an end to impunity.<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GA\/PAL\/1439 1 JULY 2021 Video Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 Fran\u00e7ais\u00a0 East Jerusalem Crisis \u2018Far from Over\u2019, Under-Secretary-General Says,\u00a0Warning Threats to Status Quo in Holy City Can Have Severe Global Repercussions Home demolitions, evictions and the denial of citizenship are just some of the ways Israel has pursued its systematic policy of \u201cdemographic engineering\u201d over 54\u00a0years, participants in […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329,2805,4389],"document-source":[1753,2657,2025,6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[3273,2005,2613,1961,1797,2137,2729],"entity":[1889,1729],"document-language":[6544,6541],"class_list":["post-255333","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-category-video","document-category-webcast","document-source-ceirpp","document-source-organization-of-the-islamic-conference-oic","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-demographic-issues","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-internally-displaced-persons","document-subject-jerusalem","document-subject-peace-process","document-subject-settlements","document-subject-shelter","entity-intergovernmental-organization-or-multilateral","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-french"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=255333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}