| | CMEP Weekly Bulletin: Sheikh Jarrah: Israeli Settlers Storm Home of Palestinian Family Facing Expulsion A look at continuing tensions over settlements, legislation and diplomacy, and more news in this week’s bulletin. Image: A Palestinian man confronts a plain-clothes Israeli policeman in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah on 13 February 2022. (AFP) CMEP’s Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP’s behalf. | | | |  | Image: A Palestinian man confronts a plain-clothes Israeli policeman in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah on 13 February 2022. (AFP) | | | Sheikh Jarrah: Israeli settlers storm home of Palestinian family facing expulsion Middle East Eye “On Sunday morning (February 13), Israeli settlers stormed occupied East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, ahead of the reopening of a far-right Knesset member’s office on land belonging to a Palestinian family, according to a Middle East Eye correspondent. Dozens of settlers set up a tent on the Salem family land, who are facing imminent expulsion, and clashed with residents and supporters, injuring 73-year-old owner Fatima Salem. Settlers scuffled with the residents and used pepper spray, as chairs were hurled by both sides, before Israeli police stepped in to push Palestinian crowds back." | | | | | | | |  | Image: A Palestinian protester lifts the national flag during a demonstration against the expansion of settlements, near the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on 20 November 2020. (AFP) | | | Amnesty report: The limits of the apartheid framework
Middle East Eye “Last week, Amnesty International finally caught up with what Palestinian activists, intellectuals, human rights organisations and their allies have been saying for decades, and published a report that concluded that Israel practises apartheid - a crime against humanity under international law - from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea. Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem published similar reports last year. Amnesty’s report offers a damning documentation of Israeli apartheid, showing Israeli ‘intent to oppress and dominate Palestinians’. According to the report, Israel’s land and planning policies, its demographic racial engineering that aims to ensure Jewish majority, the practices of targeted killings, movement restrictions, its policies of ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer, institutionalised discrimination, and denial of citizenship and nationality are all part of a planned system of domination and apartheid." | | | | | | | |  | Image: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Judge Boulos Fahmy. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP) | | | Egypt swears in first-ever Coptic Christian to head country's high court
The Hill “Egypt on Wednesday (February 9) swore in its first Coptic Christian to lead the country’s high court. Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi swore in Judge Boulos Fahmy to preside over the Supreme Constitutional Court, according to The Associated Press. Fahmy is reportedly the nineteenth person to lead the court, which was created in 1969, and had led the court’s General Secretariat since 2014. Judge Saeed Marei, who preceded Fahmy, retired because of health reasons, the AP reported, citing Mohammed Bassal, an Egyptian judicial affairs expert who also serves as editorial manager of the Shorouk Daily, a newspaper in the country.” | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Webinar Series: Join CMEP for a series of discussions on Gaza in February and March. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all. This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of these four aspects of Gaza: History & Historical Significance, Politics, Culture, Economics. | | | | |  | Upcoming Webinar: Is Peace Possible?:
Join us Thursday, March 3 at 11 am EST for a webinar discussion hosted by Churches for Middle East Peace of the recent publication: Is Peace Possible: Christian Palestinians Speak, with representatives from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land and CMEP board member communions, and moderated by Julie Schumacher Cohen, Assistant Vice President in Community Engagement & Government Affairs at The University of Scranton. To read this powerful resource online, visit CMEP’s website here. The physical book is available at Amazon.com or at your local retailer. | | | | |  | Pilgrimage2Peace Tour Update:
Thank you for the great responses to our invitation to host CMEP during our first in-person Pilgrimage to Peace (P2P) Tour since 2019. This April, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon (Executive Director) and Tala AlRaheb (Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow) will travel to Colorado, California, and Washington State to host a conversation with churches and other community groups about peacebuilding and advocacy related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our event schedule is almost full but if you are in CO, CA, or WA and are interested in hosting a meeting with your church leadership, small group, church, or public events April 18 - May 2, please click the link to learn more. | | | | | | | | Support CMEP Please donate and share in your networks to support CMEP's work. | | | | | | | | | |  | Image: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. (Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS) and Rep. Peter DeFazio. (Oregon State University/Creative Commons) | | | Lawmakers take action on Biden’s failed Yemen policy
Responsible Statecraft “On Monday (February 7), Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Peter DeFazio announced that they will be introducing a new Yemen War Powers Resolution. This is a direly needed step to put an end to America’s ongoing complicity in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world once and for all. Last week marked the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s inaugural foreign policy speech, in which he announced that his administration would follow through on his campaign promise and end U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition’s ‘offensive’ operations in Yemen." | | | | | | | |  | Image: U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi lays a wreath during an official welcome ceremony at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem on February 16, 2022. (Abir Sultan/Pool via Reuters) | | | U.S. House Leader Nancy Pelosi arrives in Israel, vows support on Iran
Reuters “U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Israel on Wednesday (February 16) as part of a Congressional delegation to the country, reiterating the United States' ‘iron clad’ support for Israel's security. ‘We're together in the fight against terrorism posed by Iran, both in the region and also its nuclear development,’ she said in a speech at the Knesset. ‘Israel's proximity to Iran is a concern to all of us.’ The Democratic House speaker also said she hoped that the Senate will ‘very soon’ approve the additional funding that the House passed last September for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which Israel uses to intercept homemade rockets fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip." | | | | | | | |  | Image: US Marines walk to an American ship docked near a military base in the UAE during a March 2020 exercise. (CNN) | | | Why the US may find itself forced back into the Middle East
CNN “Perceived disengagement by the United States in the Middle East has led to a strategic shift in regional priorities of late. Alarms about the withering of America's security umbrella perhaps rang loudest in Arab capitals after a 2019 attack on the heart of the Saudi economy prompted a reaction from Washington that was whimpering at best. The thinking was that if Donald Trump, arguably the US President closest to Gulf states to date, couldn't help them, then no American administration would. The US was seen as abandoning the Middle East." | | | | | | | | CMEP's Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP's behalf. | | | | Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
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