Jewish settlers seize shop in Jerusalem’s Old City

Jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli occupation forces seized a Palestinian-owned shop in the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. They evicted the owner by force on the pretext that the building is owned by Jews.

According to Quds Press, the settlers raided the Okbat Al-Saraya neighbourhood in the Old City and targeted the shop owned by Hussein Al-Qaisi. Mr Al-Qaisi was arrested by the Israeli police for resisting the eviction; he was taken to Biet Eliyahu police station near Bab El-Selselah.

Hayel Sandouka, an expert in settler affairs, told Quds Press that the shop has been owned by the Qaisi family for decades. However, ownership is claimed by the Ateret Leyoshna pro-settlement organisation, along with a number of other shops and houses in the Old City.

Sandouka explained that the Israelis exploit the law to seize Palestinian shops and territories. “Israel takes what it needs from the Ottoman and British Mandate laws, then it enacts new laws in accordance with its own interests in order to grab more homes,” he said. “These are then forcibly evacuated of their owners and indigenous population in favour of Jewish settlers.”

He insisted that claims made by the Israeli authorities and settlers regarding their ownership of the properties and land in question are “lies” that they base on the Bible and distorted history.

Three other Jerusalemite families recently received orders to evacuate their homes in Oqbat Al-Khalidiya in Jerusalem’s Old City for the benefit of organisations concerned with settlers’ housing. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, which started with the Nakba in 1948, is ongoing with these actions in Jerusalem, which the Israeli government is intent upon “Judaising”.