Court rules for Palestinians, Israeli smash and grab goes on

For a previous report, see Fighting back against property seizure in Jerusalem


Court rules against 2 Palestinian evictions in Jerusalem
Ma’an news
21.12.11

JERUSALEM — A Jerusalem court threw out two cases seeking to evict Palestinian families from their East Jerusalem homes, activists said Sunday.

Litigants close to settler organization Elad said the Qaraeen and Farag family homes in East Jerusalem neighborhood Silwan were their property, but the Jerusalem Magistrates Court rejected the claims on Thursday, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said.

Silwan families have lost a number of homes to demolitions and evictions by Israeli forces. The Sumarin family, who live at the entrance to the neighborhood, face a pending eviction order after their home was transferred by the government to the Jewish National Fund.

Silwan — adjacent to the Old City’s Dome of the Rock compound and Western Wall — is a focus of Israeli settler moves into East Jerusalem.

Jewish settlers illegally built seven-story building Beit Yonatan in Silwan, and a number of court orders decreeing its eviction have never been implemented.

Israel insists that Jerusalem is its “eternal and indivisible” capital, and annexed the city’s eastern sector after a 1967 war in a move never recognized by the international community.

For Palestinians, East Jerusalem is the capital of their promised state.

Israel Bulldozes Industrial Structures In Silwan
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
20.12.11

Israeli bulldozers destroyed on Tuesday industrial stalls in ath-Thoury neighborhood, in Silwan, south of the al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, as part of the destruction that is ongoing to a playground that belongs to the Ibrahimi College, a few meters away from the Jerusalem Wall.

Israel is trying to remove the Palestinian structures from the area in order to build a National Security College, a project that the Jerusalem Municipality is trying to build on Palestinian-owned lands, including land that belong to the Ibrahimi College.

Eyewitnesses reported that dozens of soldiers, and a number of military bulldozers, surrounded the neighborhood, especially the industrial stalls that belong to resident Montaser Sarhan, before demolishing.

The Jerusalem Municipality recently declared its intentions to confiscate the Palestinian lands in order to build a “parking structure “.

Jerusalem is subject to ongoing Israeli violations, including demolition of Palestinian homes and property, illegal annexation of Palestinians lands, and ongoing arrests and harassment of the Palestinians in the area.