EU Mission Chief Urges Israel to Halt Eviction of Palestinian Families

Amman, MINA – The head of the EU mission to the West Bank and Gaza Strip issued an impassioned appeal to Israel on Monday to halt the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers.

Sven Kuhn von Burgsorff led a high-powered EU delegation on a visit to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where they called at the home of the Salem family, who are facing eviction on Dec. 28.

“How on earth is it possible that a family can be evicted at Christmas, in the middle of the winter?” von Burgsorff said, Arab News reported.

The EU delegation ran a photo on Twitter, adding: “Members of Nassar family continue gathering on their land in the neighborhood of #SheikhJarrah in the occupied #Jerusalem after Israeli settlers placed barbed wires around the land in an attempt to seize it. #SaveSheikhJarrah.”Israel has been waging a concerted campaign to take over as many homes as possible in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem to turn it into a Jewish area. An appeal against the evictions is currently before the Supreme Court.

Under a controversial Israeli law, land rights belong to Jews who lived in the area before 1948, and can be transferred.

However, the law does not apply to Palestinians who lost homes in West Jerusalem and now live in East Jerusalem — they are not permitted to claim their homes back. The Israeli-controlled administration of absentee properties is a major enabler of Jewish settler groups.

Fatmeh Salem, 69, who was born in the family home in Sheikh Jarrah and has lived there all her life, has paid rent for the house to the Jordanian government since the 1950s.

The Israeli-controlled administration of absentee properties is a major enabler of Jewish settler groups, while Palestinians who lost homes in West Jerusalem and live now in East Jerusalem are not even allowed to have their homes back.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)