For the past few weeks, our demonstrations have remained in Sheikh Jarrah Park, around the corner from the Al-Ghawi and Al-Kurd homes. This was the result of an unwritten agreement with the Israel Police. However, last week on Jerusalem Day, hundreds of settlers from around the Occupied Territories poured into the neighborhood, some of them armed, and the police stood by and let them right onto the street where the houses are.  This was in blatant contradiction to what the police have said in the courts—that any political protest in front of the houses would be a provocation. Apparently armed settlers who taunt homeless people are not a provocation.

This Friday’s weekly demonstration was impassioned. Dozens of activists crossed Nablus Road from the park where we had been demonstrating to demand that the police allow us to demonstrate near the houses, just as the settlers had done.

The police refused.

Nearly 100 protesters sat on the street.

Nearly 100 protesters sat on the street.

So nearly 100 demonstrators crossed and sat down on the concrete in a bold act of civil disobedience. The response of the police was unprecedented in its violence, but the scene was priceless (see a video clip here). The Border Guards who were called in put people in headlocks, shoved us as hard at they could, and were reduced to dragging the sitting protesters limb by limb, only for the protesters to sit right back down. 14 were arrested, and four protesters were hospitalized: Uri with a broken hand, Elisheva with a back injury, Dani with a broken finger and Ro’i with a broken rib. As if to acknowledge that they were breaking the law, the Border Guards covered the name tags on their uniforms.

What the police seem not to get is that this is a resilient and committed movement, and that we do not speak their language—violence. We speak solidarity. So with 10 protesters spending the weekend in jail—for no good reason —over 400 people arrived outside the Russian Compound courthouse the next night (Saturday) to support them. After about an hour and a half, when the police tried to silence this protest too, it spontaneously turned into a march on Jaffa St.

A spontaneous march on Jaffa St. An Arabic sign reads "No to occupation," and a Hebrew one, front, middle, reads "The Police of Yisrael Beiteinu," a play on 'Israel Police' to imply that the police are favoring the agenda of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing, fascist-leaning party.

A spontaneous march on Jaffa St. An Arabic sign reads “No to occupation,” and a Hebrew one, front, middle, reads “The Police of Yisrael Beiteinu,” a play on ‘Israel Police’ to imply that the police are favoring the agenda of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing, fascist-leaning party.

Several passers-by joined us, and our chanting became loud and spirited, completely drowning out the small crowd of young people who gathered to counter-protest. They chanted, “a Jew is a human-being, an Arab is a son of a bitch.”

That racism is indeed a fitting mantra for the policy of evicting Arabs in East Jerusalem—because why would “sons of bitches” need homes?—and a mantra for which the Jerusalem municipality, Israeli courts, and the Israel Police must be taken to task.

Of all cities, racism will not pass in Jerusalem.

If you want to support the struggle for Jerusalem, please help us cover the legal fees that the police are forcing us to incur—or hop on a bus or plane, and join us in Sheikh Jarrah this Friday, May 21!