Jerusalem court orders eviction of Palestinian families in favour of settlers

A group of people gather to protest against Israel’s displacement policies in the region at Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem on 29 September, 2023 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered the eviction of three Palestinian families on Monday from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem and to hand over the properties to Jewish settlers. All Jewish settlers in occupied Palestine are there illegally under international law.

The court gave the Diab families until mid-July to leave their homes. At least 20 people are affected by the court order.

A member of the Sheikh Jarrah Neighbourhood Defence Committee and owner of one of the targeted homes, Saleh Diab, said that the case against the family was launched by Nahalat Shimon, a settler organisation seeking to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem court decision goes against the order by the Israeli Supreme Court to freeze eviction decisions against 28 families who live in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

According to Diab, the Nahalat Shimon settlement association exerted pressure on the magistrate and pushed him to consider the case again. He pointed out that the families have lived in their homes for 56 years and began their legal struggle in 2009 to prove their right to stay there. The families will appeal against the decision.

For years, the Israeli occupation authorities have been trying to displace the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem, in various ways.

Since 7 October, Israel has killed 59 Palestinians in the Jerusalem Governorate and wounded 172 others. The occupation state has also detained 1,325 Palestinians and issued actual imprisonment sentences for 155 of them.

During the same period, the Israeli occupation authorities have issued 85 house arrest orders, 68 deportations from the city of Jerusalem, and a number of travel bans. The Israeli occupation forces have also demolished 133 homes, while 18,301 settlers have stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

READ: Hamas calls for activating all forms of resistance to deter settlers

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