JERUSALEM, Thursday, May 9, 2024 (WAFA) – Palestinian families today secured an Israeli court order annulling previous orders to evict them from their houses in the occupied Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

The Hammad, Daoudi and Dajani families said in a joint press release that the Israeli occupation High Court issued an order annulling previously issued eviction orders against them following a petition submitted to the Court by Saleh Abu Hussein and Sami Irsheid, two attorneys who represent the families.

The Israeli Jerusalem Central Court had ruled in favour of the Israeli Magistrate Court’s ruling ordering the forced eviction of the three families from their houses in the neighbourhood in 2021 before the Magistrate Court’s ruling was overturned.

The attorneys managed to annul other Israeli occupation court rulings ordering the forced eviction of the Salaymeh, az-Zein and Almani families from their houses in the neighbourhood after similar successful efforts in 2022 that culminated in securing an Israeli High Court’s ruling cancelling the eviction of the al-Kurd, al-Qassem, Iskafi and al-Ja‘ouni families from the neighbourhood.

The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood became a scene of massive protests against Israel’s settler-colonialism in the occupied territories, and such protests peaked in 2021 since the Israeli occupation authorities decided to forcibly expel dozens of families from their houses in favour of colonial settler groups.

Palestinians have maintained that the Israeli occupation authorities' decision to “evict” the families from their houses in favour of the settler groups is politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians.

Since the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel in June 1967, Israeli settler colonial organizations, including Elad and Ateret Cohanim, have claimed ownership of Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Backed by the Israeli state, judiciary and security services, these organizations have been working on wresting control of Palestinian property and converting it into colonial outposts as part of the efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in the city, as well as on managing archaeological sites in Silwan and overseeing their excavation. This scheme involves building new colonial tourist sites, such as the “City of David”, to bolster their propaganda.

K.F.