ABSTRACT
Last fall, a small group of young Israeli activists began gathering on Fridays in Sheikh Jarrah to stop the eviction of Palestinian families from this East Jerusalem neighborhood. Three of those families, spawned by (once-and-future?) Palestinian refugees who had lived in West Jerusalem before 1948, have now been thrown out of their homes to make way for Jewish settlers. Other Palestinian families in the neighborhood are at risk of eviction, waiting on Israeli courts to adjudicate claims made by would-be settlers. The demonstrations on behalf of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah grew slowly until early in March when thousands of protesters showed up at (what CNN) called “ground zero.” Lift-off happened in part because the young activists managed to get the Israeli High Court to rule against police who aimed to suppress a proposed protest march. The police’s ongoing efforts to strong-arm demonstrators helped turn a seemingly marginal cause into a focal point for the (formerly dormant) Israeli Left. But it’s not just free speech issues that have roused folks. Demonstrator/commentator Bernard Avishai explains why Sheikh Jarrah’s local issues are crucial for everyone in Israel:
