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Defies international protest over Jewish settlement:
Israel evicts Palestinians from Jerusalem homes
ISRAEL: Club-wielding Israeli riot police evicted two Palestinian
families from their homes in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday, defying
international protests over Jewish settlement activity in the area.
Clashes erupted after police moved in at dawn around the homes in the
upmarket Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah following an Israeli court
decision ordering the eviction of the 53 Palestinians, including 19
minors.
“I was born in this house and so were my children,” said Maher Hanoun,
whose family was evicted along with the neighbouring Ghawi household.
“Now we are on the streets. We have become refugees.”
The Supreme Court ordered the evictions following an appeal by the
Nahalat Shimon International settler group which claimed Jewish settlers
have title deeds for the properties, despite UN and Palestinian denials.
Jerusalem authorities have also given permission for the construction
of about 20 homes in Sheikh Jarrah, in defiance of global calls for a
halt to all settlement activity in occupied east Jerusalem and the West
Bank. Sheikh Jarrah is one of the most sensitive neighbourhoods closest
to the so-called Green Line separating east and west Jerusalem, with the
fate of the city one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
As some settlers carried boxes containing the belongings of the
expelled families to a truck, others moved into the houses holding
drills, shovels and ladders.
Police clashed with protesters and detained around 10 people.
“We are all afraid of being kicked out,” said Amal Kassem, a Sheikh
Jarrah resident for more than five decades.
She said Jewish settlers were holding “fake title deeds” to homes
which the Palestinians obtained in line with a deal struck between
Jordan and the UN agency for refugees in 1956, when Jordan had
jurisdiction over the area.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat expressed outrage.
“Israel is once again showing its utter failure to respect
international law,” he told reporters.
Jerusalem, Monday, AFP |
