AN Australian pro-Palestine activist says she was arrested at gunpoint, falsely imprisoned and denied food and phone contact for 15 hours over what Israeli authorities say is a visa irregularity.
Tents springing up throughout US and EU in support of Palestinians under threat of home demolition
13.07.09 - 15:29
Jerusalem / PNN – On World Day in Solidarity with the Palestinian people foreign supporters are joining solidarity tents throughout Jerusalem neighborhoods.
The neighborhood gathering places are becoming a common sight in East Jerusalem as home demolitions rise and the collective community fights back through public campaigns and sit-ins.
Today’s actions are being undertaken in tents erected the world over in solidarity with the families of Jerusalem who “remain steadfast during the process of ethnic cleansing practiced by the Zionist occupation authorities,” organizers say.
Eviction notices and demolitions continue to rise in neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. The solidarity tents are being erected in front of Israeli embassies and consulates in cities like Glasgow, London, Chicago, New York, Ireland, San Francisco, Egypt, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands.
A gathering and press conference is underway in Sheikh Jarrah, the home to Umm Kamal Al Kurd and the tent she was relegated to after being evicted at gunpoint. Speakers include Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line, Fakhri Abu Diab, owner of one of the houses threatened with demolition in Al Bustan, Silwan, and Maher Hanoun, the owner of a house threatened with eviction in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Lim Ouharu of the World Solidarity Movement in Palestine said today that tents have become a symbol “of the Palestinian conflict with the occupation and the policy aimed at the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in all neighborhoods of Jerusalem: Silwan, Ras Khamis, Shu'fat, Beit Hanina, Sheikh Jarrah, and the Old City.”
