Humsa, a Palestinian community in the Jordan Valley, has been raided and demolished five times by Israeli occupation forces in February 2021. Israel attempts to expel Palestinians from there and in many other places. This is part of their policy of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid.
Please sign and share this petition to help us to send a message to the United Nations and Member States that we want concrete steps to support Palestinian rights and end Israel’s impunity.
Since 3 November 2020, Humsa al-Fawqa, a Palestinian community in the Jordan Valley, has been targeted, raided, and demolished six times by the Israeli occupying authorities.
The community has built and lived in Humsa long before Israel occupied this Palestinian territory in 1967. Since then, the 11 Palestinian families have been denied access to construction permits, access to water, health and educational facilities in the village. Israeli forces frequently raid and attack Humsa and have demolished and confiscated homes and structures repeatedly since 2012. JCB, Volvo and CAT bulldozers have aided the Israeli military forces in the latest demolitions.
Palestinians in Humsa continue steadfast in the face of ongoing Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid.
Humsa al-Fawqa is but one example of Israel’s systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and the failure of states worldwide to end Israel’s impunity.
We as people call on our governments to ensure justice and accountability.
Accordingly, we reiterate our calls to the international community to:
- recognise and denounce Israel’s policies against the entire Palestinian people, including the demolitions of Humsa al Fawqa, as war crimes of an Occupying Power, violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination and constituting the crime of apartheid.
- establish an independent Human Rights Council fact-finding mission into Israel’s apartheid regime and associated obligations of states, international organizations and business enterprises.
- further develop in a transparent manner the UN database on business enterprises involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.
We urge the international community to impose targeted economic and military sanctions on Israel, to publicly support and fully cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and to hold individuals including corporate actors who may have committed war crimes in Humsa al-Fawqa criminally accountable.
Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council
Joint Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures on Israel’s Continued Demolitions Amidst a Global Pandemic, 25 January 2021
In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate housing is considered to be “the front line in the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as demonstrated by stay-at-home and lockdown orders,” as highlighted by Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non discrimination in this context.
While the world is collectively dealing with the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen Israel, the Occupying Power, continuing its systemic and widespread campaign of house demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Israel’s house demolition policies and practices target the protected Palestinian civilian population and are intended to foster a coercive environment to force their transfer.
Al-Haq
Report on the demolition of Humsa on November 23 2020: Will the International Community Take Concrete Actions to End Israel’s Long-Standing Policy of Forcible Transfer of Palestinians?
On 3 November 2020, the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) raided and razed to the ground Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa, a Palestinian Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Critically, and while this attack, which was conducted during a global pandemic, has been described as “the largest forced displacement incident in over four years,” it is yet another example of Israel’s long-standing policy of forcible transfer of Palestinians.
Accordingly, Al-Haq reiterates its calls to the international community to resort to all available mechanisms to achieve international justice and accountability, and in particular, to intervene immediately to economically sanction Israel, and to publicly support the International Criminal Court, for it constitutes a key tool upholding international law and a mechanism for victims to seek justice.
Stop the Wall news
Resisting Israeli apartheid, Humsa residents remain on their village remains
Yesterday, tens of armed Israeli soldiers raided the Bedouin community of Humsa, Northern Jordan Valley. This raid has been part of a series of violent raids committed since the beginning of 2021 and even before. In previous raids the entire community was razed to the ground four times in three months.
Humsa: Israel forces EU to hand over humanitarian aid
On February 16th, representatives of the EU diplomatic missions in the Occupied Palestinian territories visited Humsa to provide them with tents for the residents. Yet, Israeli military stopped the officials and confiscated the shelters.
#SaveHumsa: Steadfast we call for solidarity
From the Bedouin community of Humsa, representatives of popular committees across the West Bank have sent a call to rights and solidarity groups around the world. They urge more pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop the imminent ethnic cleansing of Humsa.
Take inspiration from the strength and struggle of the women in Humsa
we share the voices of the women in the Bedouin community of Humsa, Northern Jordan Valley, and their strength and struggle as an inspiration to all of us. We also emphasize that there will not be a free Palestine unless Palestinian women are free from their double oppression and marginalization.
Remaining steadfast against Israeli expulsion
Read the following article published on the Morning Star, People’s Daily on March 2nd by Manal Shqair of Stop the Wall and popular activist Mahmoud Soliman. The authors shine a light on Humsa, the semi-nomadic community in the northern Jordan Valley that is facing a fierce Israeli ethnic cleansing campaign.
If you want to help us sharing the petition, you can use the following graphics:
For Instagram
For facebook/twitter
