In the last couple of days Jerusalem witnessed several events and clashes between the Israeli police and Palestinian and Peace activists. More than thirty five Palestinians and Peace activists were arrested because they participated in several activities made against the Israeli settlements and the Arab cultural activities in the city.
The Israeli police claimed that none of these activities were authorized and therefore all of those who participate in it were acting against the law. The activities which were made included dancing, peaceful demonstrations, and demands to give the Palestinian residents of the city a chance to live normally without being depressed and prevented from expressing their opinion.
The Palestinians claimed that the Israeli state continues to prevent any kind of freedom of expression and acts harshly with anyone who tries to live as a Palestinian in the city. Many were injured by the Israeli policemen who used force against civilians who were simply gathering to dance in the streets of East Jerusalem. The French Cultural center in East Jerusalem was closed by the Israeli police because of an activity which was made for children as a part of the cultural Arab activities which were made.
The Palestinian residents which were arrested were attacked by the police forces while they were on their way to jail. The Israeli police refused to release them although the Israeli Peace court in Jerusalem decided to release them because no charges can be raised against them.
Israel claims that Jerusalem is the united capital of the Jewish state and refuse to admit any Palestinian right in it. More than one hundred fifty Palestinians live in the city and are forbidden from getting a Palestinian nationality. The only thing they are given is a travelling document and they are treated as a second class humans who are simply an obstacle in the way to turn Jerusalem into a complete Jewish city.
Although Jerusalem is considered a part of the 1967 occupied lands by the International community, Israel ignores the Palestinians right to be treated as people who are under occupation. The Israeli intelligence service keeps on following the youth people in order to prevent them from expressing their opinion and relation to the Palestinian community in the West Bank and Gaza. Any kind of Palestinian leadership in the city is forbidden and if anyone acts as a leader he or she becomes a target for the Israeli security forces.
The city suffers from serious community problems and the people are not defended or given a chance to defend themselves. A minority knows about the suffering which they pass through every day and no one is ready to move in order to make a change. The Palestinian authority is not allowed to interfere. Jerusalemite Palestinians are not welcomed to work in professional work opportunities inside Israel and are not allowed to work In the Palestinian authority. The majority of the Jerusalemite Palestinians live under poverty and the youth are pushed into crime and use of drugs.
The only expression which can be given to the city and its neighbors is simply a ghetto. Those who live on the line with Israeli settlements suffer from daily attacks launched by the Israeli settlers who act as gangsters above the law. The situation in Sheikh Jarah is an example of what the Palestinians suffer from everyday.
Israel acts as if everything is fine in the city and that the intelligence and police can hold the city as a part of the Israeli state by continuing their depression and occupation. The small Israeli peace activists groups are treated harshly, arrested, and abused the police. The international community continues to ignore all the voices which are demanding for a fair act in order to stop the apartheid Israeli policy in the city. The International law implies on Israel not to act in any part of the occupied city as long as there is no solution between the two sides of the conflict. The Palestinians of Jerusalem must be given their rights fully and must be treated as human beings but no one dares to judge Israel for such a thing.
It is important to remember that most of the Palestinian Intifadas and reactions started from the holy city after long periods of depression and injustice in the city against the innocent civilians who are currently suffering and almost their national identity because of the Israeli occupation and depression. Jerusalem can be described as the key for peace or war in the Middle East. The current Israeli government insists on using it as a key for war. Settlers continue to raid the city, settlements are built, the holy Islamic and Christian places are attacked everyday, and the people are depressed…so the result is already clear.
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