UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZaydMa'an
Israeli police ordered outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd to leave an East Jerusalem home on Thursday during her last official visit as the head of the relief agency.
Ma’an’s reporter on the scene said AbuZayd left after police gave her five minutes to evacuate...
Amidst Israeli police and soldiers, AbuZayd visited Palestinians recently evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem on International Human Rights Day. She spoke of Jerusalem as a “City of Dispossession,”
"On this day, and in this place, I wish to remind the international community of the unfinished business in Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere in the West Bank,” she said.
“The dispossessed, the displaced must see their losses acknowledged, their injustices addressed,” she added. “Peace is possible, but only if we insist on our universal humanity."...
During a news conference before entering the Al-Kurd house, AbuZayd said, "As a colleague of mine said, we have 'failed with distinction' … I am leaving reluctantly, at a time of greater political uncertainty than at any time I've been here in nine years and at a greater time of economic and financial difficulties."
.....“The impact of this urban settlement activity being conducted with seeming impunity is manifold and acute,” AbuZayd continued..
UN condemnation of forced evictions
AbuZayd reaffirmed the UN's condemnation of the ongoing Israeli policy of forced evictions of Palestinians and house demolitions...
"To date, four of the 28 families have lost their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, affecting over 55 people including 20 children. At present, a further eight families are under direct threat of forced eviction, having been served with orders to vacate their homes, potentialy affected another 120 people. In all incidents to date, settlers have taken over with the active protection and assistance of the Israeli authorities. But the numbers don't speak to the human suffering and trauma that has been the unfortunate hallmark of these forced evictions."
Plight of the Bedouin
..."On International Human Right day, I would also like to highlight the plight of one of the most disadvantaged groups in this region, the bedouins of the West Bank."
"As the occupying power, Israel remains responsible for ensuring that the basic needs of the occupied population are met. But many refugee Bedouin and herding communities, originally displaced from their traditional lands in 1948, are now experiencing multiple counts of displacement from area C as they are forcibly moved from their homes."
"These groups are now sinking deeper into food insecurity and abject poverty, as grazing land continues to shrink and access to natural resources is severely restricted by the occupying power. Administrative demolition, forced evictions, collapsing livelihoods, poverty and settler harassment represent the key triggers to displacement for area C herding communities today and they're already stretched coping mechanism are now reaching their limits. They're full rights must be respected as a matter of utmost urgency."
........Israeli army soldiers were also on the scene.... The forces also dispersed journalists from the area... Full story
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