The weekly protest in Sheikh Jarrah took place in front of the Shepherd Hotel yesterday, where demolitions began last Sunday to make way for the construction of a Jewish residential complex owned by Irving Moskowitz. The demolition was met with sharp criticism by the US and European community, however the Prime Minister Office's response is that this is a private matter that they need not get involved in, insisting that Palestinians have the same rights to renting and buying property as Jews do in the city. However, anyone familiar with the situation in Jerusalem knows this is not true, and…

Jeffrey Goldberg believes that the Jewish settlement in Sheikh Jarrah is "not necessarily" in the best Jewish self-interest. Why not? Because peace is important, and without a Palestinian East Jerusalem, there will be no Palestinian state, and hence, no possibility of peace. Israel will either cease to be a Jewish state (through the absorption of Arabs), or it will cease to be democratic. "It will not survive if it becomes a pariah state, and, in this unfortunate world in which we must exist, Israel is in danger of becoming an outcast among nations." By Jerry Haber / Magnes Zionist For…

Bulldozers razed a big chunk of the Shepherd Hotel in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah early morning Sunday to make way for a new residential complex for Jews (a.k.a settlement). The Shepherd Hotel was owned by Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini until 1967, when Israel expropriated it under the Absentee Property Law (Read more about this law here). In 1985 the property was sold to a company owned by American Jewish billionaire Irving Moskowitz, notorious for his support of Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and specifically of the extremist Ateret Cohanim group, responsible for most of the Jewish settlement…