Sheikh Jarrah

We need your help urgently to stop an eviction - please help the Sabbagh family to keep their home in East Jerusalem. Their neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah has been at the forefront of Israeli efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Jerusalem.

The Sabbagh family were originally made refugees during the Nakba (Catastrophe) in 1948. Fleeing from Israeli militias, the family was awarded a home in then Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem. In 1967 Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem, and has since made every effort to remove the Palestinian population and cut the city off from the rest of the West Bank.

Since 2008 the Sabbagh family has been battling a settler group in court over ownership of their property. The Israeli courts have unsurprisingly ruled in favour of the illegal settlers, and 45 members of the family are now facing forced eviction from their homes.

Join us in writing to the Foreign Office to demand Israel stops illegal settlement expansion, and to protect the right of Palestinians to live in their capital city.

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Dear Minister,<br /><br />
<div>I am writing to you about the threat faced by Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, and to urge you to take immediate action to prevent the Sabbagh family being forcibly evicted from their home by Israel.<br /><br /></div>
<div>45 members of the Sabbagh family live in Sheikh Jarrah, where they moved in the 1950s after becoming refugees during the Nakba. The family were forced to flee from their home in Jaffa when the State of Israel was created. Having lost everything, they were awarded a property in Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.<br /><br /></div>
<div>In 1967 Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem, and has since systematically tried to cleanse Palestinians from the area and cut it off from the rest of the West Bank. East Jerusalem remains internationally recognised as Palestinian territory, and all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied Palestinian territory is a war crime – and the UK is obliged to hold Israel accountable.<br /><br /></div>
<div>Since 2003, a settler group have claimed ownership of the Sabbagh family’s land and have sought to have the family evicted. The family have been fighting in the courts since 2008 to remain where they are, but Israel’s unjust legal system has unsurprisingly ruled against them. It could now be a matter of days until the family are once again forced from their home by Israel.<br /><br /></div>
<div>Their case is urgent, but not unique. Their plight is part of a systematic process to continue the Nakba and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. We have seen that international pressure is effective from the ongoing campaign to save Khan al-Ahmar, and the same must be replicated to save Palestinian communities elsewhere.<br /><br /></div>
<div>Please let me know what representations the Foreign Office are making to Israel in the case of the Sabbagh family, and more broadly about the existential threat faced by Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The UK has a responsibility to hold Israel accountable and take meaningful action to uphold international law. With this is mind, I urge the British Government to act on the advice of Amnesty International and follow the example of Ireland in moving to ban all illegal settlement products from the UK.</div>

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Sheikh Jarrah