SHAFAQNA- The UN’s Security Council will hold a meeting on February 23 on the latest developments in the Palestinian Territories, especially situation in the Sheikh Jarrah. In an interview with the official Voice of Palestine radio station, Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations called on the international community, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and its representative in the Palestinian territories, to play a more effective role to pressure the occupation government to discourage it from demolishing the homes of citizens and to stop what is happening.
Riyad Mansour also in a letter to UN’s Secretary-General António Guterres, the Security Council and the General Assembly on Monday (15 Feb 2022) called for Palestinian families to be protected from Israel‘s forced expulsion programme in Sheikh Jarrah. Mansour stressed the need to take “urgent measures” to save Palestinian families from being “illegally and forcefully expelled” by the Israeli occupation. He explained that Israel, the occupying power, has increased its violations of human rights and crimes against the Palestinians, while it is still able to avoid being questioned and held to account, despite the expulsions being a “flagrant violation of international law.”
In the letter, Mansour reminded the UN officials and members that Israel has wounded 215 Palestinians in the past two weeks, including 28 children. Moreover, it has demolished or “confiscated” 53 homes and facilities, displacing at least 400 Palestinian men, women and children. Evictions and demolitions are a regular part of Palestinian life in East Jerusalem, and are seen by Palestinians as an attempt to squeeze them out of the city and ensure Israel’s long-term control over East Jerusalem. Most evictions go unreported, but cases in Sheikh Jarrah attract special attention because of the role that the district played in the build-up to last year’s war.
Sources: Jerusalem24 , Middle East Monitor , The New York Times