#SaveSheikhJarrah: Palestinians' viral moment
"When I had an interview with CNN a few days ago, I posted the video on my Instagram page and I had 2 million views, while the interview for an Israeli official barely had a thousand."
"It's clear that there's strength in social media platforms and even on our accounts. I now have a quarter of a million followers, and I believe these people are an electronic army - that can keep up the resistance for Sheikh Jarrah's cause."
This is Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, and that was Mohammed El-Kurd.
He's 23. And if you come to this neighborhood at any given time you'll find scores of young people like him on the streets, recording every moment on their cellphone cameras. Lots and lots of cellphone cameras. Each moment - a protest, a confrontation with police - instantly spread worldwide.
Because Sheikh Jarrah, and the viral social media hashtag it's spawned, "Save Sheikh Jarrah," is a symbol for many Palestinians and their supporters.
The possible eviction of eight Palestinian families here from their homes by the Israeli government - homes which would be given to Jewish settlers on land they claim is theirs - is one of the issues that sparked the ongoing conflict and civil unrest that has swept Israel and the Palestinian territories, killing so many people.
The movement has been picked up by top of the charts music celebrities, actors, politicians.
Kurd's family is one of those facing eviction.
"The 'Save Sheikh Jarrah' campaign started from Sheikh Jarrah residents."
"I believe that what made our campaign get international attention was how it was spread. For the first time, worldwide, they're talking about the Palestinian cause as as a colonization issue, not just a human rights violations or religious conflict issue. We're living under colonization, and land theft."
That's Kurd's sister, Muna.
In one video that recently went viral, Muna was filmed arguing with an Israeli. She was shouting at him, "You are stealing my house!"
The Israeli in the video shouts back, "If I don't steal it, someone else is going to steal it."
The question of whether to evict has made its way to Israel's Supreme Court. The Jewish settlers had filed a lawsuit, stating that they bought the land rights to these homes from two Jewish associations, which had in turn bought the land during the late 1800s.
Hashtag Save Sheikh Jarrah's supporters question the legitimacy of this. The Palestinian families were given their homes in the 1950s as refugees, after they were forced to flee or give up their old homes during the war that created Israel.
Meanwhile the movement spreads. Hanna Tams is a Palestinian influencer:
"... The Palestinian community inside the country and the European community, the foreign community, and the Palestinian diaspora. We show the what's happening here, what's happening in Sheikh Jarrah."
