JERUSALEM, April 1, 2015 (WAFA) – A large Israeli police force Wednesday raided Abu Nab family’s home in the East Jerusalem’s town of Silwan and started to empty the house from the owner’s furniture under the pretext that the house belonged to a Jewish family before the 1967.

WAFA correspondent in Jerusalem reported on one of the locals witnessing the Israeli police forced eviction of Abu Nab family in the cold weather. He said police broke into the house and began to take out furniture, vandalizing many pieces due to their careless conduct.

Family member Nasir Abu Nab told WAFA the Israeli authorities ordered his family to pay rent which amounts to 280,000 NIS for the past 14 years they have lived in the house, claiming that the house used to belong to a Jewish Yemeni family prior to the 1967 conflict.

He said the family assigned a lawyer to follow up on the case, and the eviction came as a surprise. According to Abu Nab’s testimony Israeli police threatened to come back and empty the rest of the furniture, even if the case was not settled soon.

To be noted, the house is located between the illegal settlement outposts of Beit Asal and Beit Yonatan, where a number of Palestinian-owned homes were taken over by settlers.

While settlers are supported by the court and the Israeli authorities to claim ownership of homes which were allegedly owned by Jewish families, Palestinian families which were evicted from their homes in 1948 are not entitled to return to their homes or claim ownership.

Settlements are illegal under international law as they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory.

T.R/M.H