It must be
the smallest Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories: just
half a house. But Palestinian officials and Israeli human rights groups are
concerned that it represents the first stage of a plan to eradicate the
historical neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, cutting off one of
the main routes by which Palestinians reach the Old City and its holy sites.
The home of
Mohammed and Fawziya Khurd has been split in two since 1999 when the Israeli
courts evicted their grown-up son Raed from a wing of the property. The elderly
couple have been trying to regain possession, but were stymied last week when an
Israeli high court backed the petition of a group of settlers and ordered the
immediate eviction of the Khurds. The decision paves the way for the takeover of
26 multi-storey houses in the neighbourhood, threatening to make 500
Palestinians homeless.
The verdict
has been denounced by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and in the past
few days the Khurds have been visited by foreign diplomats, including from the
United States.
In a letter
to consulates in Jerusalem, including those of the United States, Britain,
France and Germany, Rafiq Husseini, Mr Abbas’s aide, warned that the takeover of
the Khurds’ home was part of a wider drive to change the geography of Jerusalem
by forcing out Palestinians and replacing them with Israeli settlers. Such a
development would deal a death blow to already-strained peace negotiations, he
wrote.
Today there
are 250,000 Israeli Jews living illegally in East Jerusalem, and the Israeli
government has announced that thousands more apartments are to be built –
despite promises to the US government to freeze settlement growth.
Israeli
human rights groups and Palestinian solidarity activists, meanwhile, have been
staging a 24hour vigil at the Khurds’ home in the hope of preventing the order’s
enforcement.
According
to Meir Margalit, an analyst on Israeli policies in Jerusalem, the Sheikh Jarrah
evictions are part of a much bigger goal being pursued by shadowy settler
groups, backed by the Israeli government, to establish wedges of Jewish
settlement around the Old City and secure it for any future peace agreement.
“The
settlers have submitted a plan to the Jerusalem municipality seeking the
demolition of Sheikh Jarrah’s Palestinian homes to make way for the building of
200 apartments for settlers,” he said. “They have chosen one of the most
sensitive sites in East Jerusalem: it’s full of Palestinian political and
cultural institutions. Its takeover would contribute significantly to the
encirclement of the Old City.”
The Khurds
and other Palestinian families have been living in Sheikh Jarrah since the
mid-1950s, when the Jordanian government and the United Nations allocated them
land as refugees. All had been forced out of areas that became Israel in 1948.
After
Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, however, the settler
organisations began pressing their claims to former Jewish homes. A religious
organisation, the Sephardi Jewry Association, says it purchased Sheikh Jarrah’s
lands in the 19th century. The families’ lawyers, on the other hand, say the
land belongs to the Darwish family. The courts have been unable to authenticate
the documents, which date to a murky period of land dealings.
Until last
week’s decision, the courts had decided that the Palestinian residents should be
allowed to stay in their homes as “protected tenants” until ownership could be
determined. However, the courts insisted that the families pay rent to a trust
set up in case they found in favour of the Sephardi Association at a later date.
The
families argue that, under the terms of the deal with the Jordanian government
and United Nations, they were entitled to ownership of the properties after 30
years. The eviction order against the Khurds is believed to have been issued
after Mohammed Khurd, 55 and bedridden, was unable to keep up his payments.
The Khurds
say they have faced constant pressure since settlers moved in next door. “At
first we were offered a lot of money to leave,” said Mrs Khurd, 62. “When we
refused, the settlers started making our lives a hell. The family next door
changes every few months to make it difficult for us to start legal proceedings.
“Armed
Israeli guards have been posted on the path to our house and there are a network
of surveillance cameras to watch our every move. Armed settlers have broken into
the house, pointing their guns at us.
“The family
next door makes noise through the night to disturb us, and brings large parties
of settler children to play on our shared balcony as though they were on a
school outing. We have even seen them put up posters of Palestinians and
encourage their children to shoot at them with toy guns.”
Rabbi Arik
Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, which has taken a keen interest
in the case since 2001, says official policy towards the Khurds reveals a double
standard. “In claiming back what they say are Jewish properties from before
1948, the settlers are opening up a Pandora’s box. Before 1948, Fawziya’s family
was from Talbieh, now in West Jerusalem, and her husband Mohammed’s family lived
in Jaffa, next to Tel Aviv. Do the settlers want these refugees making similar
claims for the return of their old properties in Israel?”
The
Palestinian Authority has pointed out to the foreign consulates that nearly
two-thirds of the land in West Jerusalem was owned by Palestinians before 1948.
Human rights groups also note that it is against international law to change the
legal status of occupied land. None of the consulates has responded officially,
although they have made visits to the area.
Behind the
settler families is an organisation known as Nakhalat Shimon, founded by Benny
Elon, a former cabinet minister and leader of the Moledet Party, which seeks the
expulsion of Palestinians. He recently stated: “ Building Jewish neighbourhoods
next to open areas [in Jerusalem] will prevent invasion and illegal construction
by Palestinians who live near the Old City.”
The
settlers have recruited a large number of religious supporters because they
claim a cave in Sheikh Jarrah as the resting place of a famous rabbi from 2,000
year ago.
The Khurds
are far from alone in their plight. Twenty-five homes are under similar threat.
Maher Hanoun, his three brothers and their families were forced out of their
large home in 2002 when settler groups brought an action against them. The
courts overturned the order in 2006. “My home was boarded up for four years
while the courts decided who owned the land. So far the judges have not reached
a decision, but the verdict against the Khurds puts all of us at risk again,” he
said.
Mr Margalit
points out that the Khurd case is just one of several fronts being pursued by
extremist Jewish organisations keen to settle Sheikh Jarrah.
Israeli
officials have been leasing an olive grove belonging to the Arab Hotels Co. to a
settler group called Ateret Cohanim in a deal the local Haaretz newspaper
recently termed “underhand”. Together with a right-wing US Jewish millionaire,
Irving Moskowitz, who has bought the Shepherd’s Hotel on nearby Mount Scopus,
the settlers hope to build 250 flats on the grove.
“For the
settlers, Sheikh Jarrah is the link they need between the western half of the
city and neighbouring Mount Scopus. Although they seem to be acting on their own
initiative in this case, they are in fact doing the dirty work of the
government.”
The
settlers next to the Khurds refused to comment. However, a friend, Shira Ganz,
32, an immigrant from Ukraine who has been squatting in an empty Palestinian
home nearby with her husband and three young children, said the families were
committed to living in Sheikh Jarrah. “It’s written in the Bible that we have a
right to everywhere in this land, and here we are only minutes from the Western
Wall and the Temple Mount. We are not frightened of living next to the
Palestinians. If we were, we would leave the promised land and move to Britain
or the US.
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