Israeli court upholds eviction notices for families in Jerusalem

Israel’s Supreme Court has upheld lower court eviction notices in two out of four appeals filed by Palestinian residents of Batn al-Hawa in the Silwan district of East Jerusalem, as reported by the Middle East Eye and agencies on December 30th.

According to the Jerusalem Governorate, the rulings affect two apartments where the family of Abdel Fattah al-Rajabi live and 11 apartments belonging to Yaqoub and Nidal al-Rajabi as well as their brothers.

The rulings for two other appeals are still pending. One appeal, filed by Yousef al-Basbous, relates to four apartments, and the other, filed by Zuhair al-Rajabi, relates to seven apartments.

The governorate stated that since 2015, roughly 16 families have been forcibly evicted from Batn al-Hawa.

Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem have been facing escalating violence from Israeli settlers and authorities, seemingly in an effort to forcibly displace them to make way for more Jewish-only settlements.

Across the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in roughly 160 settlement outposts.

It was reported on December 28th that Israeli settlers had conducted a raid on the Khilat al-Sidra Bedouin community located near the town of Mikhmas, northeast of Jerusalem.

Settlers have established six outposts around Khilat al-Sidra, from which they launched attacks; the Jerusalem Governorate said that around 15 settlers had stolen solar-powered lighting equipment and vandalised Bedouin residents’ property.

The emigration of Jews from Western nations has also been encouraged by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who, as reported on December 21st, called for “the Jews of England, the Jews of France, the Jews of Australia, the Jews of Canada, [and] the Jews of Belgium: [to] come to the Land of Israel!”Under Israel’s “Law of Return“, people with at least one Jewish grandparent can emigrate to Israel and become a citizen.

Those who have settled in the occupied Palestinian territories have received benefits, such as discounts on land and grants for mortgages. The purpose of increasing the Jewish presence across the occupied territories seems to be part of a broader plan to maintain a Jewish demographic majority.

Middle East Eye and agencies, Maghrebi.org