JERUSALEM, Wednesday, October 24, 2018 (WAFA) – A Palestinian family of 11 members was forced on Wednesday to leave its house in Silwan, a neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, and hand it over to Jewish settlers.

Wadi Hilweh Information Center said Israeli police broke into the apartment of Jawad Abu Sneineh, which is located in a five-story building in Silwan, and removed all his furniture in preparation to turn it over to the settlers.

Abu Sneineh was not in the apartment at the time after he was kicked out of Jerusalem and forced to move into the West Bank because he does not have Jerusalem residency papers.

Abu Sneineh had rented the apartment several years ago from the owner, Jamal Sarhan, However, Sarhan sold the building to Israeli settlers in 2015, a step that angered his entire family, the owners of the building. The building was evacuated at the time except from the Abu Sneineh family, which came under pressure to leave it, including kicking them out of Jerusalem to the West Bank.

The Sarhan family has contested the sale by Jawad in court as illegal, since he does not own the building. The case is still pending in the court, which ordered to keep the status quo, that is the building owned by settlers but not to take it over until a final court ruling is reached.

K.T./M.K.