UNIONS have urged the British government to hold Israel accountable for ongoing ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem, where protests have erupted this week over evictions.

Six Palestinian families face imminent removal from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah after an Israeli court ruled last Sunday that they should make way for Israeli settlers.

The order sparked protests among residents and a sit-down solidarity demonstration by activists on Tuesday. Israeli forces responded by raiding homes in Sheikh Jarrah and spraying crowds with foul-smelling “skunk water.”

Palestinians fear that the order is part of an ongoing effort by illegal Israeli settlers to take over homes in the neighbourhood, which is just a short walk from the walls of the Old City. 

Trade unions Unite, the National Education Union, RMT and GMB are among the signatories of a joint statement urging British ministers to take action against the evictions, which they say are “a clear example of demographic manipulation and ethnic cleansing.”

“Backed by the state and its discriminatory laws, settler groups have claimed ownership of the land in Sheikh Jarrah and implemented a creeping takeover of Palestinian homes, aided and abetted by Israeli courts and the security forces,” it reads. 

“We call on the British government, public bodies and civil society to hold Israel accountable and take meaningful action to prevent the further ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem.”

Also among the 14 signatories of the statement, penned by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and released this week, are War on Want, the Amos Trust and Jews for Justice for Palestinians. 

The families facing eviction are among those whose houses were built in 1956 with the approval of the United Nations and Jordan after they were dispossessed from their land in historic Palestine by Israel. 

Sheikh Jarrah is just one neighbourhood targeted by settler groups, with about 1,500 Palestinian households at risk of eviction in East Jerusalem. 

PSC director Ben Jamal said: “These evictions are part of a broader range of policies and laws employed by Israel to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Jerusalem.

“More and more human rights groups are rightly identifying these policies of racial domination and oppression over the Palestinian people as amounting to the crime of apartheid.”