In a Quick Response to Civil Society Organizations ... The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council Demand the Occupation Authorities to stop the Aggressive Attacks against the Palestinian People

Menatullah Bakr: The occupation authorities must stop the forced evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood

Today, May 11, 2021, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Mr. Michael Lynk, & the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, issued a statement in response to the hostile acts carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, also in response to the data they received from civil society organizations.

In this statement, the two UN special rapporteurs expressed their grave concern about Israel's continuing aggressive practices against the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem. They called on Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately remove its threat of eviction of hundreds of Palestinian families from their homes.

In their statement, the special rapporteurs also reported the injury of hundreds of Palestinians in the clashes that took place in recent days. They called on Israel fully restrain itself in its management of the Palestinian demonstrations in Jerusalem, and to respect freedom of assembly, expression and religious worship. They also affirmed Israel must remove all threats of eviction, respect the property rights of these Palestinian families, legalize them, and abolish all discriminatory legislation from their laws."

It is worth noting that Maat had submitted a complaint yesterday, Monday, to the UN Special Procedures, in particular to the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967, regarding the blatant aggression carried out by the Israeli occupation forces and extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinian citizens in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and their forced displacement and illegal eviction of dozens of Palestinian families from their homes.

In this complaint, Maat called on the Human Rights Council to hold an extraordinary session to issue a binding decision to stop the brutality of the occupation forces against the Palestinian people, condemn the forced evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and conduct an urgent investigation to prevent their displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem. Maat also demanded the HRC to transfer the case to the International Criminal Court, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and oblige the Israeli occupation authorities to stop their continuous violations and attacks in all parts of the Palestinian territories, including the occupied city of Jerusalem.

For her part, Menatullah Bakr, director of the International Mechanisms for the Protection of Human Rights at Maat, called on the member states of the United Nations to recognize and condemn Israel’s system of apartheid against the Palestinian people, and to take effective measures to end this illegal situation. Bakr also stressed the need to ensure Israel’s responsibility as an occupying power to respect and protect the Palestinian people, and called for the necessity of stopping forced evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and for an urgent investigation to be carried out to prevent any further displacement of populations from their homes in Jerusalem.