The Nakba Never Really Ended

Activists protest forced removals in Sheikh Jarrah [Ahmad Gharabli / AFP]

By Sami Fuller

For 38-year-old Rasha Budeiri, whose parents may be forced out of their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, the Nakba never really ended.

The Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe” – refers to a period between 1947 and 1949 during which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes. Many left with just the keys to their houses and the clothes on their backs, convinced they would be able to return in a matter of weeks. The newly established state of Israel, however, took steps to prevent this. Budeiri’s grandparents, like most Palestinian refugees, were never allowed to return home, despite being guaranteed that right by UN Resolution 194.

Originally from Baka, a now swanky neighborhood in West Jerusalem, they spent years as refugees in Jordan and Syria before finally being offered a home in Sheikh Jarrah in 1956 as part of an agreement between UNRWA and the Jordanian government, which controlled East Jerusalem at the time. Budeiri’s parents still live in this home.

Recently, though, an Israeli court ruled that Israeli settlers were the rightful owners of several properties in Sheikh Jarrah, although international law deems East Jerusalem occupied territory and considers the settlement of Israeli civilians there illegal. Israeli authorities have threatened to forcibly remove eight families from the neighborhood, including Budeiri’s parents, to make way for settlers.

The court’s decision – viewed as part of a long-term campaign to “Judaize” the city by driving out Palestinian residents and cutting off their neighborhoods’ connection with the West Bank – spurred weeks of daily protests in Sheikh Jarrah that eventually spread to other parts of Palestine. Israeli police have responded to growing protests in Jerusalem by firing rubber bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians in and around the Al-Aqsa compound, wounding hundreds.

In the last few days, violence has increased: Israel launched air strikes on occupied Gaza, killing at least 212 Palestinians (including 61 children), and Hamas responded with rockets, killing at least 10 Israelis. Palestinians in Israel have been targeted by angry mobs - including an attack aired on a live Israeli television broadcast. The U.S. was the sole member of the Security Council to block 3 resolutions calling for an end to the violence. And it’s unclear what’s going to happen next.

Sheikh Jarrah and living in limbo

Sheikh Jarrah is the neighborhood where Budeiri grew up. She has fond memories of her life there – it’s where she played hide-and-seek, climbed trees with her siblings and listened to her sister tell scary stories in the yard after sunset, she told me.

The garden at the Budeiri family home in Sheikh Jarrah. [Courtesy of Rasha Budeiri]

But Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are stuck in a lifelong “limbo” – referring to a complicated set of legal rules that Palestinians say are part of a systematic effort to remove them from Jerusalem, which makes everything that’s happening in Sheikh Jarrah so fraught.

The company behind the current displacement attempt, Nahalat Shimon, is a firm registered in Delaware that bought the “rights” from the two settler committees that first alleged ownership in 1972. The Israeli foreign ministry characterizes the situation in Sheikh Jarrah as a private “real estate dispute,” and much media coverage on the issue so far has referred to the pending forced removals as “evictions.”

Undeterred by this, the 3,000 residents of Sheikh Jarrah have fought hard to save their homes. They’ve mobilized on social media with the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah. They’ve appeared on news programs, authored op-eds and demonstrated in their neighborhood. They’ve also come face-to-face with the American company attempting to expel them from their homes in Israeli court. But, Budeiri said, the court dismissed their evidence and “never even entertained the idea of looking into their documents and the proof we had.”

In April, the 500 Palestinians most immediately threatened with displacement sent a letter to the International Criminal Court endorsed by 191 civil society groups from across the world urging the office of the prosecutor to include the situation in Sheikh Jarrah in its investigation into war crimes in the occupied territories.

Should her family be forced out of Jerusalem, Budeiri said, they would be at risk of losing their Jerusalem residency status, the right to live in Jerusalem, as well as municipal services – services she says pale in comparison to those provided to Israeli citizens, but nevertheless are rightfully owed to them.

‘This is an apartheid crime’

Aseel Al-Bajeh, a legal researcher and advocacy officer at the human rights organization Al-Haq, told me that the characterization of the planned displacements as a real estate dispute is extremely alarming. “This is a forcible transfer crime. This is an apartheid crime. This is systematic, ongoing and widespread. Sheikh Jarrah is just an example of what’s been happening in Palestine since 1948,” Al-Bajeh said.

While Israel is transferring settlers into areas like Sheikh Jarrah and the occupied West bank, it is also transferring Palestinians out. Almost 15,000 Palestinians have had their Jerusalem residency status revoked since 1967, according to the Interior Ministry.

Transferring civilians from an occupying power into the territory it occupies constitutes a war crime under international law. Similarly, forcibly transferring or deporting a civilian population out of an occupied territory also violates international law. It is why the UN has said the planned forced removals in Sheikh Jarrah “may amount to war crimes.”

On May 9, the legal case of the Sheikh Jarrah residents was postponed at request of the Israeli attorney general. Al-Bajeh views this as a cynical attempt by the Israeli government to wait out the massive popular demonstrations in and outside Palestine in solidarity with the Sheikh Jarrah residents.

Prior to the Supreme Court appeal, an Israeli judge had asked the Palestinian residents and settler organizations to come to some sort of “deal.” But Budeiri told me demands for Palestinians to make a “deal” and live in harmony with settlers misses an important part of the conversation: justice. “Where’s justice? Talk to me about my rights. Give me my basic human rights,” Budeiri said.

According to Al-Bajeh, the current situation in Sheikh Jarrah is the “perfect example” for understanding how the Nakba is ongoing. The youth leading current mobilization efforts grew up hearing the stories of how their grandparents were violently dispossessed and now find themselves in the same position. “This is the reality they are facing today,” Al-Bajeh said.

Budeiri, for her part, said that the recent displays of solidarity with residents of Sheikh Jarrah has been heartwarming. Today, she has one request for the rest of the world, as we approach Nakba Day on May 15 – for people to continue to speak out and advocate for Palestine.

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