What’s Real and What’s Not in Sheikh Jarrah
By Clara Citron
In May of 2021, Israel found herself in the throes of ongoing terror. For days, Israelis hid in bomb shelters as Hamas rockets flew all over the country. Israel responded with force, raining rockets down on military targets in Gaza. What started as a land dispute quickly turned violent for both Israelis and Palestinians and, as usual, was misinterpreted by the media.
The fighting that occurred in May 2021 was caused by a dispute over land plots in Sheikh Jarrah, located in East Jerusalem. While Sheikh Jarrah is mostly populated by Palestinians today, it also holds significance to the Jewish people for whom it is known as Nachalat Shimon. Nachalat Shimon is named after Simon the Just (Shimon HaTzaddik), a Jewish priest who lived in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. His tomb is located in this very neighborhood, making it a holy Jewish site for centuries.
Sheikh Jarrah was occupied by both Arabs and Jews until the 1948 war, when the Jews were expelled by Jordanian forces. Once Israel won the 1967 war and reunified Jerusalem, Israel decided to respect the titles of the properties that Jordanian officials had transferred from Jewish-owned properties to Arab-owned properties. The titles that had not been transferred were returned to their Jewish owners. In 1982, Jewish property owners sued Palestinians living on the properties. A court date was set in May of 2021 to settle the ongoing dispute.
While the contentious fight over Sheikh Jarrah contributed to the terror that ensued in May 2021, it was not the only factor. At the same time, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is in his sixteenth year of what was meant to be a four year term, postponed domestic elections out of fear that he would lose to Hamas, the terrorist organzation controlling Gaza. Hamas subsequently capitalized on Palestinian anger to incite violence throughout the country against the people of Israel.
Some examples of the Hamas’ incitement of violence included calling on the Palestinian people to “cut off the heads of Jews with knives” while launching over 4,000 missiles at Israeli communities. Unfortunately, as a result of this violence, many innocent Palestinians are harmed and even killed alongside Israelis, as was the case in May when 260 innocent Palestinians were killed by rockets that Hamas fired.
So what is happening with Sheikh Jarrah now, seven months later? On November 2, 2021 Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood rejected a compromise put forth by the Israeli Supreme Court. The proposal would have allowed Palestinians to remain protected tenants, which would allow for them to continue living there, while Nachalat Shimon would be provincially recognized, allowing these Palestinian residents to avoid the threat of eviction for another ten to fifteen years. In addition, the Palestinians would not forfeit the ability to reopen the question of ownership with the Justice Ministry. The residents of Sheikh Jarrah were split on what to do, but faced tremendous pressure to reject the compromise from the frequently heavy-handed Palestinian Authority and Hamas leadership. The fight for the neighborhood is ongoing.
As tensions continue to rise in Israel and Palestine, it is unfortunate that leaders are shifting the political climate towards violence. Rather than reaching for peaceful solutions, leaders are using tragedy to fuel cycles of violence and propel the conflict forward, opening the door for their own re-elections at the expense of innocent lives.
