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A30 world news
Dialuna 7 Juni 2021

Jerusalem evictions that fueled Gaza war could still happen

(AP) — A long-running “We don’t want to cause
campaign by Jewish set- them any pain and suffer-
tlers to evict dozens of ing, but we need to have our
Palestinian families in land back,” he said. “If there
east Jerusalem is still un- are people there, they have to
derway, even after it fu- unfortunately get out.”
eled weeks of unrest and
helped ignite an 11-day Ir Amim estimates that settler
Gaza war. organizations have already
evicted 10 families in Sheikh
An intervention by Israel’s Jarrah and at least 74 families
attorney general at the height in Silwan, a few kilometers
of the unrest has put the most (miles) away, in the last few
imminent evictions on hold. decades.
But rights groups say evic-
tions could still proceed in The Israeli government and
the coming months as in- a settler organization that
ternational attention wanes, markets properties in Sheikh
potentially igniting another Jarrah did not respond to re-
round of bloodshed. quests for comment. Israel
has previously said the evic-
The settlers have been wag- tions are a private real estate
ing a decades-long campaign dispute and accused Hamas
to evict the families from of seizing on the issue to in-
densely populated Palestin- cite violence.
ian neighborhoods in the so- such an incremental manner, shortly after Israel captured
called Holy Basin just out- As tensions rose, Israel’s At- it’s so much easier to dis- the West Bank and east Jeru- The settler movement en-
side the walls of the Old City, torney General Avichai Man- miss.” salem in the 1967 war. joys strong support from the
in one of the most sensitive delblit secured the postpone- Israeli government and the
parts of east Jerusalem. ment of the final hearing in The families in Sheikh Jarrah For Palestinians, the evic- right-wing parties that domi-
the case of the four families. are stuck in limbo. A total of tions conjure bitter memo- nate Israeli politics. The set-
Israel captured east Jerusa- Another group of families at least 65 families in two ar- ries of what they refer to as tlers have benefitted from
lem, home to holy sites sa- requested that the attorney eas of the neighborhood are the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” Israeli policies going back
cred to Jews, Christians and general also intervene in threatened with eviction, ac- of Israel’s creation, when to 1967 that have encour-
Muslims, in the 1967 war their cases, securing a delay. cording to Ir Amim, includ- some 700,000 Palestinians aged the expansion of Jewish
and annexed it in a move not Israelis are currently trying ing a group of families set to — a majority of the popula- settlements in the occupied
recognized internationally. to form a new government, be evicted in August. tion — fled or were driven West Bank and east Jerusalem
Israel views the entire city as adding more uncertainty to from their homes as the new while severely restricting the
its capital, while the Pales- the process. Banners hang in the street in state battled five Arab armies. growth of Palestinian com-
tinians want east Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah, and small, oc- Most ended up in refugee munities.
as the capital of their future That has bought time for casional protests are still held camps in the West Bank, Gaza
state. the families, but nothing has there. Police man check- and neighboring countries. Today, more than 700,000
been resolved. points at either end of the Jewish settlers live in both
The settlers are using a 1970 road and keep watch as Jew- “This isn’t just about Sheikh territories, mostly in built-up
law that allows Jews to re- “Everything is very much ish settlers — who seized Jarrah, it’s about the entire residential towns and neigh-
claim properties lost during hanging in the balance,” said one of the homes in 2009 — Israeli occupation, that’s the borhoods. The Palestinians
the 1948 war surrounding Amy Cohen, a spokeswoman come and go. problem. They aren’t going and much of the interna-
Israel’s creation, a right de- for Ir Amim. Rights advo- to stop here,” says Saleh al- tional community view the
nied to Palestinians who lost cates fear Israel will proceed The settlers say they acquired Diab, who was born, grew settlements as a violation of
property in the same conflict, with the evictions once the the land from Jews who up, married and raised his international law and a major
including Palestinian citizens furor dies down and inter- owned it before the 1948 own children in one of the obstacle to peace.
of Israel. national attention turns else- war, when Jordan captured homes under threat in Sheikh
where. what is now east Jerusalem Jarrah. Ir Amim says Israeli authori-
The Israeli rights group Ir and the occupied West Bank. ties could intervene in any
Amim, which closely follows “We’re talking about over Jordan settled several Pales- “You lose your home to them number of ways to prevent
the various court cases, esti- 1,000 Palestinians in both tinian families on the land in 1948 and then they come the Jerusalem evictions, in-
mates that at least 150 house- these two areas that are at in the early 1950s after they back after 1967 and take your cluding by modifying the law
holds in the neighborhoods risk of mass displacement,” fled from what is now Israel home again,” he said. that allows settlers to take
of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan Cohen said. “Because these during the 1948 war. Settlers over such properties.
have been served with evic- measures are taking place in began trying to evict them Yaakov Fauci, a settler from
tion notices and are at various Long Island, New York, who Hamas, which is designated
stages in a long legal process. gained internet fame after a terrorist organization by
a widely circulated video the U.S. and the European
The plight of four extend- showed a Palestinian resident Union, has demanded that
ed families comprising six scolding him for stealing her Israel rein in the settlers as
households in Sheikh Jarrah, home, says the Palestinians part of the informal truce
who were at risk of imminent are squatting on private prop- brokered by Egypt that ended
eviction, triggered protests erty. the Gaza war. Egyptian me-
that eventually merged with diators are exploring ways
demonstrations over the po- “They’ve lived here since to prevent the evictions, and
licing of a flashpoint holy site. 1956. This is not exactly an- previous cease-fires have in-
After warning Israel to halt cestral land going back to the cluded significant conces-
the evictions and withdraw times of Abraham,” he said. sions to Hamas.
from the site, Hamas fired Fauci says he is a tenant and
long-range rockets at Jeru- has no personal involvement A war that destroyed hun-
salem on May 10, triggering in the legal dispute, but he dreds of homes in Gaza may
heavy fighting between Is- insists the land belongs to the have ensured that residents
rael and the Islamic militant Jewish people. of Sheikh Jarrah can remain
group that rules Gaza. in theirs, at least for now.