Palestinians Hold Friday Prayer Outdoors in Sheikh Jarrah

Jerusalem, MINA – Dozens of native Palestinian residents performed the weekly Friday prayer outdoors today in the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in protest of potential Israeli expulsion orders against dozens of Palestinian families in the neighborhood.

The worshipers went through a march following the prayer to shed light on their suffering and on possible displacement by the Israeli occupation authorities in favor of far-right Israeli settler organizations, Wafa reported.

Tensions have been high in the neighborhood for nearly two weeks after ultra-Orthodox and pan-Zionist legislator Itamar Ben-Gvir set up a makeshift in the vicinity of the Salem family home in the neighborhood, threatening to go ahead with expulsion of Palestinians in the neighborhood.

Palestinians have protested almost daily over the past two weeks in Sheikh Jarrah, which lies less than two kilometres from the ancient walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. Israeli settlers continue to falsely claim ownership of Palestinian houses in the neighbourhood, saying Jewish residents lived in them in the final decades of the 19th century.

Around 300 Palestinians, all of whom face the prospect of being evicted from their homes by Israeli authorities, live in the neighbourhood.

Occupied by Israel in 1967, Sheikh Jarrah has been a significant flashpoint since May 2021, after Israel tried to expel Palestinian families from the area to make way for Israeli settlers.

This prompted widespread protests across the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian community inside Israel, as well as a large-scale Israeli military aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Currently, there are more than 200,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem, alongside about 300,000 native Palestinian residents. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)