Two days ago (16/7/24), settlers entered the Abu Nab family home in Batan Al-Hawa, Silwan, East Jerusalem, and began renovation work inside the house. At the same time, the neighboring Shhadeh family received an eviction notice, giving them 20 days to vacate their home.
Last week, the Jerusalem District Court rejected four appeals from residents of Batan Al-Hawa and ordered the eviction of 66 Palestinian residents from their homes to make way for settlers. The settlers took advantage of the fact that the Abu Nab family home was empty at the time and did not wait for the Supreme Court to hear the appeal. According to neighbors’ testimonies, settlers broke into the house, entered, and began renovation work.
Peace Now: “This is a real alarm. If the government does not intervene and if pressure is not applied on it to intervene, we may see Israeli police forcibly evicting Palestinian families from their homes in Silwan in the coming weeks, and settlers moving in instead. This is a terrible injustice based on discriminatory laws and the exploitation of the vulnerability of East Jerusalem residents, who are not equal citizens living under occupation in Jerusalem. This is part of a larger scheme to expel an entire Palestinian community to make way for settlements in East Jerusalem, and this crime must be stopped. Now.”
Takeover of a Home Without Enforcement and Police Forces
On the morning of October 19, 2015, the Abu Nab family members left for their daily routines, heading to work and school. About an hour after they left, police surrounded the neighborhood and forcibly evicted their relatives and neighbors of Abdullah Abu Nab. This followed a long legal battle that ultimately resulted in the court ruling that the home, where they had lived since becoming refugees after fleeing their house in West Jerusalem in 1948, actually belonged to a Jewish trust that operated in the neighborhood 100 years ago. Consequently, the settlers claimed the building for their own needs under the trust’s name.
When Jawad Abu Nab returned to the neighborhood, he found settlers had taken control of the entrance to his home and barred him from entering. His house is located in the backyard of the Abdullah Abu Nab house, into which the settlers had moved, and the only entrance to his home is through that yard. His protests, lawyers, and the court were of no help. The Ateret Cohanim settlers, who had established a synagogue in Abdullah Abu Nab’s house, did not allow him to return home.
Jawad had to climb down a ladder from a neighbor’s window to retrieve his belongings from his home and moved in with his father until he could return. Meanwhile, the Ateret Cohanim settlers also sued Jawad, demanding his eviction from the home based on the same claim of ownership by the Jewish trust from a century ago. In December 2020, the Magistrate’s Court accepted the settlers’ lawsuit and ordered the eviction. The Abu Nab family appealed to the District Court, which last week rejected their appeal along with those of other families.
The settlers did not wait for Jawad to file an appeal to the Supreme Court. They took advantage of the fact that Jawad Abu Nab’s home was empty and entered it yesterday. In the coming days, the Abu Nab family will file an appeal to the Supreme Court. If the appeal is accepted, they will have to go through enforcement proceedings to evict the settlers from their home.
Eviction Notice for the Shhadeh Family
Next to the Abu Nab house is the three-story Shhadeh family home. The Shhadeh family was also sued by the settlers and lost in the Magistrate’s Court and the District Court appeal. Supreme Court Judge Solberg decided to reject outright the Shhadeh family’s request to appeal and did not discuss their case. This was despite other families from Batan Al-Hawa who submitted similar requests getting their cases heard by the Supreme Court, with one family’s (the Dweik family) appeal even being partially accepted.
Five days ago, the Shhadeh family received an eviction order from the Enforcement Office, instructing them to vacate the house within 20 days. If the family does not leave the house within 20 days, a near-term date for forced eviction will be set (coordinated with the police), and the family will also have to bear the costs of the eviction.
The Government Can Still Prevent the Eviction!
Immediately, it can avoid sending police officers to carry out the eviction. In the longer term, it can reach an arrangement to prevent the eviction—see more details here.
