Jerusalem (AFP)
For decades, Sheikh Jarrah was just another part of Israel-occupied East Jerusalem and the world had not heard of it.
Today the name of this Palestinian neighborhood threatened by Israeli colonization has gone viral.
The man who stirred the political consciousness of the stars, catalyzed the anger of a generation of Palestinians and propelled the name into Twitter trending for days, is 23-year-old local resident Mohammed El-Kurd.
"We have succeeded in drawing attention to the colonization in Jerusalem, but also to the rights of the Palestinians to defend themselves, to resist the occupier and to their right to be able to tell their own story," he said with satisfaction. young activist, now followed by more than half a million followers on Instagram.
And the story races at the end of April, when demonstrations in support of Palestinian families of Sheikh Jarrah threatened with expulsion set fire to East Jerusalem, then the Mosque esplanade, then mixed Israeli towns, before giving rise to 11 days of war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in power in Gaza and the Israeli army.
Visuals, explanatory slide shows shared millions of times, hashtag, demonstration: in this extremely tense context, for the animators of Cheikh Jarrah's campaign, the priority was first of all to explain and convince.
"Since the start of the campaign, our speech has been extremely clear. We are talking about colonialism and colonization - not just human rights violations," told AFP in his home in Sheikh Jarrah the young activist in English. perfect, who is studying in USA.
Returned to Sheikh Jarrah, Mohammed El-Kurd belongs to one of the families threatened with eviction for the benefit of the Israeli settlers.
On Sunday, her twin sister Mona, also very active in the #SheikhJarrah campaign, was arrested by the Israeli police and summoned to her at the police station, according to their father.
- "Unprecedented" -
Protesters in several countries have taken to the streets to lend their support to the Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah and even figures such as actors Mark Ruffalo and Viola Davis, singer Dua Lipa or Manchester City footballer Riyad Mahrez have spoken about the case on social networks.
The dispute crystallizes around land properties inhabited by Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and threatened with expropriation.
# photo1
Because according to Israeli law, if Jews can prove that their family lived in East Jerusalem before the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, which began with the creation of the State of Israel, they can request that their family be returned to them. "property rights".
However, there is no such law for Palestinians who lost their property during the war or who had to flee without a "right of return".
"Everyone has seen that we are faced with a racist legal system written to protect and support the settlers," says Mohammed El-Kurd.
From his apartment building, several Israeli flags can be seen flying over neighboring buildings.
According to Ir Amim, an Israeli association which monitors the evolution of settlements in Jerusalem, up to 1,000 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and the neighboring district of Silwan are at risk of being expelled.
The Palestinian families concerned are those who settled between 1948 and 1967 when this part of Jerusalem was still under Jordanian control, before its occupation by Israel in 1967.
The Israeli Supreme Court preferred to let tensions subside and postpone its decision on the expulsions to Sheikh Jarrah indefinitely.
"Even if we fail to save homes, (...) we have witnessed an unprecedented shift in public opinion around the world," El-Kurd said.
- Censorship -
The battle on social media has also been one against censorship, according to Palestinian activists.
For several days, at the request of the Israeli authorities, some content deemed inciting or calling for hatred was removed from the Facebook and Instagram platforms, reported Sada, the association for the defense of Palestinian online rights.
"At one point we could no longer post anything on Cheikh Jarrah, without it being immediately removed," says Mohammed El-Kurd.
Despite these challenges, the campaign had a huge impact.
Some posts reached 250,000 views within hours.
"I had never believed in the power of images or posts on social networks," said the activist.
"But I discovered that our most important battle (...) is that of words, that of public opinion."
© 2021 AFP