Jerusalem24 – This month marked 55 years since the start of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories (ie, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip), a belligerent occupation that has been carried out in the context of, and serves to entrench, Israel’s settler colonization of and apartheid against Palestine and Palestinians.
In this special episode of Vibes, which is a one of a series on Vibes and Wake up Palestine dubbed “55 Years On” to mark the 55th anniversary since Al Naksa, we talked to the Director-General of the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, Ziad Hammouri, about the social changes that have unfolded in the city over the past five and a half decades.
“East Jerusalem was pure Palestinian… During the 55 years, they were implementing different plans to control East Jerusalem. As a result, more than 96% of East Jerusalem was Judaized, [however] they didn’t succeed in pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem,” Hammouri said.
Hammouri adds that demographically Israel didn’t succeed in erasing Palestinian presence from East Jerusalem, even though they employed different tactics, the most prominent of which is the policy of demolitions that occur on a daily basis, and cutting Jerusalem and Jerusalemites off from the West Bank with the Israeli apartheid wall.
Listen to the full interview below.
https://soundcloud.com/24fmpalestine/vibes-ziyad-hammouri
