Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family at gunpoint from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem at 4am on Sunday, in spite of a formal US government protest.
A member of the Al-Kurd family said that Israeli troops police stormed their neighborhood and designated the area a “closed military zone,” preventing residents from reaching the house.
Eight international solidarity activists from Canada, the United States, Britain and Sweden were arrested for protesting the eviction by camping on the family’s property.
The eviction took place in spite of a formal diplomatic complaint filed by the US in July against the eviction. The US official protest question the authenticity of the Ottoman-era bill of sale on which the Jerusalem District Court relied in ruling that the property belongs to the Committee of the Sephardic Group, an organization seeking to establish a settlement in the neighborhood.
In July the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the eviction of the family for their refusal to pay rent to their new settler landlords, whose presence the family, along with the international community, view as illegal.
Hatim Abdul-Qadir, the Palestinian president’s advisor on Jerusalem affairs called the eviction a “robbery, as Israeli forces took advantage of absence of neighbors and evacuated the house.”
Abdul-Qadir said that he has not been able to reach the house or see the family. He said the father of the family is disabled and needs medical attention.
Abdul-Qadir pledged to help the family and provide shelter in addition to the efforts to return them to their home.
Settler groups have been attempting to take over the Al-Kurd family home, along with 26 other houses in the neighborhood in order to found a new Jewish settlement.
A member of the Al-Kurd family said that Israeli troops police stormed their neighborhood and designated the area a “closed military zone,” preventing residents from reaching the house.
Eight international solidarity activists from Canada, the United States, Britain and Sweden were arrested for protesting the eviction by camping on the family’s property.
The eviction took place in spite of a formal diplomatic complaint filed by the US in July against the eviction. The US official protest question the authenticity of the Ottoman-era bill of sale on which the Jerusalem District Court relied in ruling that the property belongs to the Committee of the Sephardic Group, an organization seeking to establish a settlement in the neighborhood.
In July the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the eviction of the family for their refusal to pay rent to their new settler landlords, whose presence the family, along with the international community, view as illegal.
Hatim Abdul-Qadir, the Palestinian president’s advisor on Jerusalem affairs called the eviction a “robbery, as Israeli forces took advantage of absence of neighbors and evacuated the house.”
Abdul-Qadir said that he has not been able to reach the house or see the family. He said the father of the family is disabled and needs medical attention.
Abdul-Qadir pledged to help the family and provide shelter in addition to the efforts to return them to their home.
Settler groups have been attempting to take over the Al-Kurd family home, along with 26 other houses in the neighborhood in order to found a new Jewish settlement.