Sheikh Jarrah’s families reject deal with Israeli settlers
Jerusalem, Nov 2 (EFE).- Eviction-threatened Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem’s on Tuesday turned down a proposal by the Israeli Supreme Court to resolve a conflict that triggered a military escalation.
The Supreme Court proposed that the Palestinian families remain in their homes as tenants in exchange for acknowledging the Jewish Nahalat Shimon group as the landowners.
“This refusal comes out of our belief in the justice of our cause and our right to our homes and our homeland, despite the absence of any tangible guarantees to strengthen our Palestinian presence in occupied Jerusalem by any party or institution,” the families said in a joint statement.
The statement, issued as the deadline set by the court to accept or refuse the proposal expires, described the suggested deal as “oppressive” and “an extension of colonial policies.”
Although the current case affects four families, there are almost 30 from the same neighborhood facing similar procedures, and more than 80 from the nearby Silwan neighborhood in distant legal phases.
Most of the Sheikh Jarrah’s residents are Palestinian refugees and descendants of families who became refugees after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
They settled in the area under an agreement between the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) and Jordan.
Settler organizations claim ownership of land in Jerusalem under a 1970 Israeli law that allows the recovery of pre-1948 Jewish property, but does not apply to Palestinians who hold property in the west.
Dozens of Palestinian families in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan have received eviction notices, which international organizations have condemned as the systemic displacement of Palestinians through policy in Israel. EFE
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