Today, 19 February, JLAC accompanied a delegation of three British MPs from the Labour Party (Mr. Neil Coyle , Mr. Alex Norris and Mr. Jeff Smith ) in a tour of Issawiyeh. The first stop was at the Mount Scopus view, where we explained the impact of the National Park plan on the village and the threats hovering over Khan al-Ahmar as well as the E1 plan. Ussama Issawi,, a resident of Issawiyeh, then laid out the repressive measures employed by the Israeli occupation to intimidate, control and even displace the people of Issawiyeh. These include the National Park plan, prohibition on construction and expansion, home demolitions, closures of roads, daily incursions by the police, targeting of schoolchildren with bullets and tear gas, arrest raids and destroying the educational system in the village.
He offered examples of the regular violence to which Issawiyeh residents are subjected, one of the most glaring examples of which was the police shooting of a 10-year-old pupil in the face, which resulted in the loss of his left eye.
Finally, we met Mr. Hatem Abu Reyaleh an Issawiyeh resident whose home was demolished four times by Israeli occupation authorities over the last two decades.
Issawiyeh offers a microcosm of Israel's architecture of repression and displacement and the tour, facilitated by our partners at MAP (Medical Association for Palestine), helped elucidate that.