On May 26, 2007, a group of settlers living adjacent to Al-Saraya Center inside the Old City of Jerusalem demolished part of a wall that separates the Center and their house so as to confiscate the terrace of Al-Saraya Center, as part of the settlers’ continuous and repeated attempts at confiscating the entire Center.

The office Secretary, Sahar Mohammed Hafeth Al-Qaysi, informed the Field Researcher of Jerusalem Center for Women about what was happening, and as soon as the news spread that settlers were attacking, a group of Palestinian youth and NGO representatives gathered and confronted the settlers. They were able to stop the settlers from further demolition and even began to help rebuild part of the destroyed wall.

The settlers, however, tried to stop the youth from rebuilding what they had succeeded in tearing down, claiming that it was their own terrace. A confrontation and violent clash between the two groups ensued, and the settlers contacted the police. Twelve police officers arrived and told both parties to leave the situation with the wall unchanged as the site had to be examined and that the incident be submitted for a “judicial decision.”

It should be noted here that the Al-Saraya Center commission had previously repaired (rebuilt) the terrace and the wall, as well as a covering to protect the building from rain. The settlers challenged this construction before an Israeli court. The court, however, held that the Al-Saraya Center has the full right and authority to use that area in the way it deems fit, as the building’s legitimate owner.

Jerusalem Center for Women is seriously concerned about the continuous attacks of settlers against the Palestinians and their property in Jerusalem, as in all the occupied Palestinian territories. The Israeli Occupation forces are also responsible for such acts and for permitting, and indeed assisting the settlers to continue residing in the occupied territories, an act which directly contravenes the laws and regulations of International Humanitarian Law.

Therefore JCW urges:

• The Israeli Occupation Forces to immediately halt the building of any new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and to respect and apply the rules of the Fourth Geneva Convention guaranteeing the protection of Palestinians and their property, as well as to put an end to all the acts of violence and aggression perpetrated against Palestinians by Israeli settlers.
• The international community and the High Contracting Parties of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to hold Israel accountable to its commitment as prescribed in the Convention regarding the protection and welfare of civilians in the occupied territories.