Palestinian Family Evicted From East Jerusalem Home — 69 Years Later
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JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian family was evicted from its home of more than 50 years in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem.
The eviction early on Tuesday morning to restore the property to the Jewish family that owned it prior to 1948 is the first such eviction since 2009.
The eight members of the Shamesneh family, including an elderly couple in their 80s on Tuesday afternoon remained outside of the home. Jewish tenants moved into the home following the eviction, AFP reported.
Under Israeli law, Jews who can prove that their families lived on property in east Jerusalem before the 1948 War for Independence can ask Israel’s general custodian office to release the property and return them to ownership. Thousands of Jewish families fled Jerusalem during the war when Jordanian forces took over the city.
Israel has tenaciously resisted allowing Palestinians any right to return to the homes they were driven from during the same war.
In 2013, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the rulings of lower courts in restoring ownership rights to the Jewish former owners who sold the property to other Jews through the Israel Land Fund, a pro-settler organization.
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