In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Kristin McCarthy speaks to Rafat Sub Laban (human rights lawyer) and Amy Cohen (Ir Amim) about the Sub Laban family’s 40-year legal battle against settlers (and the State) over their home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Facing a March 15th eviction deadline, the Sub Laban family needs international attention and intervention. This family’s story is not unique, and the broader, systemic processes behind the forcible dispossession of Palestinians in Jerusalem is also discussed.

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Recorded March 9, 2023

Watch this conversation on YouTube

Amy Cohen serves as the Director of International Relations and Advocacy for Ir Amim. She is the organization’s chief liaison to the international community concerning the geopolitical developments and status of human rights in Jerusalem; conducts policy advocacy with key stakeholders and decision-makers around the globe; and conveys Ir Amim’s expert analysis to policymakers, international media outlets, and think tanks. Prior to her position at Ir Amim, she worked at MASHAV- Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, a department within the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Over the course of her career, Amy has likewise engaged in programming and advocacy work on issues pertaining to asylum seekers, minority rights, gender equality, and socioeconomic development in various social change and aid organizations in Israel and abroad, including Care International.

Rafat Sub Laban is a human rights lawyer from occupied East Jerusalem. He holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the University of Essex and currently works as a human rights officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the oPt.

Resources

• Follow the Sub Laban’s family Facebook page and Twitter account to stay up to date and answer calls for action.
• See this map of the Old City of Jerusalem, locating the Sub Laban family home amongst the many under threat of eviction and those already taken by settlers.
• Read this alert by Ir Amim that explains the Sub Laban case – and many others – in detail.
• “Q&A: ‘We are being evicted because we are Palestinians’” (Al Jazeera)