The Palestine National Council (PNC) sent letters to the heads of the parliaments and federations of the world, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union, regarding the crime of ethnic cleansing committed by the Israeli occupation authorities in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem.

In the letters, PNC Speaker Saleem Al-Za’anoon reminded of the parliaments legal and moral responsibility to condemn criminals and stop their crime of ethnic cleansing of Jerusalemites, and forcibly deporting them from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.

"The time has come for serious action to stop this full-fledged crime by displacing the residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and must put pressure on the governments of your countries to intervene and activate the mechanisms of international law and international humanitarian law, to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its continuous violations, and to prevent its impunity," Al-Za’anoon said in his message.

PNC letters explained that the threat of forced displacement at this stage targets 28 homes inhabited by 500 people from families: Al-Jauni, Al-Kurd, Al-Qasim, and Iskafi in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, and the goal is to establish 200 settlement units in their location, in the context of Judaising the holy city.

Moreover, PNC clarified that these homes were legally established for Palestinian refugees who were forcibly displaced from their homes in 1948, according to an agreement concluded in 1956 with the Jordanian government and the UNRWA Relief Agency, that is, before Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

PNC letters described what is happening now as a crime of ethnic cleansing, which aims to displace the Palestinian civilian population from specific geographical areas and cleanse them, using violent, terrorist and coercive methods, in violation of the relevant Geneva Conventions. It is also a crime against humanity, and a war crime in accordance with the principles and provisions of the International Criminal Court.

"Palestinian people seek to achieve justice, prosecute and punish war criminals. Therefore, parliaments must stand by the right and international law, declare their position, exert their efforts to deter the criminal, and ensure that the measures stipulated in the statute of the International Criminal Court are applied to redress the victims and punish the criminals," PNC letters affirmed.