JERUSALEM, Israeli occupation forces assaulted today dozens of protesters demonstrating at the entrance to the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to demand an end to Israel’s lockdown of the neighborhood.
The protesters, who also included international solidarity activists, chanted slogans that demanded the occupation authorities to lift the lockdown imposed two weeks ago on the neighborhood, whose Palestinian citizens are facing an Israeli threat of displacement.
Local Palestinian citizens have been unable to move freely in and out of the neighborhood during the last two week, with Israeli police officers only allowing Israeli settlers to enter or leave the neighborhood.
Last March, the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate urged the international community to assume its responsibility and prevent Israel from forcibly evicting and demolishing houses of Palestinian families in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem.
“The Israeli policy of forcible displacement, home evictions and house demolition is a tool being used to push Palestinians outside their capital,” said the Jerusalem Governorate in a statement at that time.
“Such policies against an occupied population are nothing short of War Crimes under international law, and so the international community must recognize and acknowledge this tragedy.”
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency