The association Europeans for Al-Quds held a press conference in the Italian Parliament on Thursday, February 17, to present its report “Jerusalem 2021, Judaization Sparks Confrontation”.
The comprehensive report, published in Arabic, English and Italian, details Israeli human rights violations in Jerusalem throughout 2021 and exposes Isreal’s attempt at reducing the Palestinian presence in the city and facilitating a Judaization process.
The press conference, moderated by former Italian MP Michele Piras, was attended by Mohammed Hannoun, the chairman of the European for Al-Quds Association, Italian MP Nicola Fratoianni, and Romana Rubeo, an Italy-based journalist and managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle.
Piras said that “European civilization is based on the values of promotion and defense of human rights and that the double standards in the case of Israel are unacceptable”, especially as we witness an everyday reality made of abuses and violation of international law.
Rubeo explained how “the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population is not a random choice, but it is rather the outcome of a demographic engineering process and of a precise strategy, which Israeli historian Ilan Pappé calls ‘incremental genocide’.”
While detailing Israeli violations in East Jerusalem, the Occupied Territories and Gaza, Rubeo called for decisive actions from the Italian parliament to comply with the obligations of international law and hold Israel responsible.
For his part, Hannoun spoke about the various forms of Judaization, warning of the danger of “Israeli occupation policies and mass forced displacement operations”.
Hannoun also called on the United Nations, the international community and the European Union countries “to put pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop its violations and protect the Palestinians”.
MP Fratoianni stressed how Italy has traditionally supported Palestinian national liberation in the past and how this position has changed throughout the years.
“We cannot declare an equidistant policy,” Fratoianni stated, adding that “if we do not take sides, we are actually taking the side of the oppressor.”
Fratoianni also declared his readiness to visit Jerusalem with an Italian parliamentary delegation to assess the situation on the ground and submit a report to the Italian government, in order to promote and defend the rights of the Palestinian civilian population.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
