Rabbis for Human Rights Organizes Protest Against Discrimination on the Eve of Jerusalem Day

On Thursday, May 21, 2009, the eve of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) held a protest against the systematic discrimination of the residents of East Jerusalem.  RHR, together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), and neighborhood committees and residents, called the protest for noon on May 21 in Jerusalem, at the Damascus Gate to the Old City.  Yom Yerushalayim, which celebrates the unification of Jerusalem 42 years ago, was chosen by the organizations to make the point that the city is not, in fact, united.  Residents of East Jerusalem experience “discrimination, neglect and abuse in all walks of life,” says a press release by the organizations, which are protesting and demanding that East Jerusalemites “be allowed to live in dignity and peace in their hometown.”  Moreover, the separation barrier further symbolizes the lack of the city’s unification.  Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann addressed the crowd on behalf of RHR. (Please see attached pictures from the protest.)

An example of the discrimination against which RHR is protesting is Jerusalem’s zoning laws.  Currently, an estimated 88 homes in East Jerusalem are scheduled for demolition.  While the City of Jerusalem claims that the scheduled demolitions are the result of inhabitants breaking zoning laws, RHR explains that it is all but impossible for residents of East Jerusalem to receive building permits.  Without legal means to construct additions on existing homes or to build new homes, the Palestinian residents have been forced to build without permits.  RHR has called on Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to rework the master zoning plan, Jerusalem 2000, “so that the institutionalized discrimination currently in place will not be locked in for another 20-30 years.”

Rabbis for Human Rights is the only organization of rabbis in Israel from all the streams of Judaism that gives voice to the Jewish religious tradition of human rights.  Dedicated to the physical security and moral vision of the State of Israel as reflected in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, RHR develops educational resources on Judaism and human rights and teaches them in Israeli schools and pre-army programs; lobbies for economic justice in Israel; provides support for Palestinian families facing home demolition for administrative reasons; and protects Palestinian farmers’ access to their agricultural land.  They received the Knesset’s Award for Quality of Life and the 2006 Niwano Peace Prize. The work of RHR has been endorsed by the North American Rabbinic Associations of the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements.