Palestinians hold Friday prayers at Jerusalem home under threat from settlers

Palestinians gathered for Friday prayers on 11 August 2017 outside the Shamasna home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem to show solidarity as the family is facing imminent eviction to make room for Israeli settlers who claim they own the property. [Twitter/Al-Asqa TV]

Posters are placed outside the Shamasna home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The family faces imminent eviction to make room for Israeli settlers who claim they own the property. The posters read ‘Here we will remain’ and ‘Stop the occupation of Arab Jerusalem’.[Twitter/Quds TV]

Friday prayers area held on 11 August 2017 outside the Shamasna home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem to show solidarity as the family is facing imminent eviction to make room for Israeli settlers who claim they own the property. [Twitter/Quds TV]

Posters are placed outside the Shamasna home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The family faces imminent eviction to make room for Israeli settlers who claim they own the property. The posters read ‘No to occupation’ and ‘Sheikh Jarrah is Palestinian’.[Twitter/Quds TV]

Scores of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem performed prayers outside the Shamasna home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood today in a show of solidarity with the family who is facing imminent eviction from their home of 53 years to make room for Israeli settlers who claim they own the property.

Akrama Sabri, head of the High Islamic Committee, said during the Friday sermon that “the land that the Shamasna family home is built on belongs to the family, and not to Jews.”

Read: Palestinians decry annulment of Jerusalem residence permits

The family has also told Ma’an that they were forced to flee the Jerusalem-area village of Qatanna some 69 years ago during the creation of Israel. While the village is part of the occupied West Bank, it is located close to Israeli territory.

Shamasna family said the evacuation order is illegal and one that is based on fake documents handed over by Israeli settlers to an Israeli court.