Three generations face imminent expulsion from E.Jerusalem home

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/three-generations-face-imminent-expulsion-jerusalem-home

9 December 2015

This short video highlights the struggle of Nora Sub Laban and her family to stay in their home in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israel plans to evict them as soon as 14 December from the house they’ve lived in since 1953, so it can be taken over by a group of Jewish settlers whose aim is to create a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem.

The family has already faced two attempts this year by Israeli occupation forces and settlers to remove them from their home, which is steps from Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque.

“The simple fact is that our house in particular is being targeted because it is the last Palestinian household left in the building and the neighborhood. If we are evicted, Ateret Cohanim will have a huge property [in the Muslim quarter] that is only inhabited by Israeli settlers,” Nora’s son Rafat Sub Laban told The Electronic Intifada in March, referring to one of the settler groups that is spearheading the takeover.

“This case sits within a context where hundreds of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are at risk of forced displacement due to settler activities” in Jerusalem, the United Nations special rapporteurs on the right to housing and the human rights of Palestinians wrote last April.

Unsurprisingly, Israel’s legal system, rigged to favor the settlers, has failed to protect the family’s tenure in the house.

The video was released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) as part of the #StopNorasEviction campaign.

Jerusalem is 40% Palestinian, but Palestinians only get 7% of the building permits. #StopNorasEviction pic.twitter.com/FtO7CdNslA

— The IMEU (@theIMEU) December 9, 2015

Almost 32,000 people have signed a petition calling on international agencies to pressure Israel to halt the eviction.

That may be the only hope, but time is running out.

“I’ve lived through my life watching my neighbors and family being slowly pushed out of the city,” Nora says in the video.

Now she and two generations of her family, including young children, face expulsion as well.

IMEU is asking people to stay tuned to the hashtag #StopNorasEviction and to itsTwitter and Facebook accounts for more on its campaign to draw attention to the imminent eviction of the Sub Laban family.

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 EU expresses 'deep concern' over Israeli demolitions in Area C

DEC. 4, 2015 5:45 P.M. (UPDATED: DEC. 9, 2015 2:44 P.M.) 218
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769167

JERUSALEM (Ma'an)

 European Union missions on Friday reiterated a call for Israel to meet its obligations to Palestinians living in Area C of the occupied West Bank, where several demolitions have taken place in recent weeks.

The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah expressed “deep concern, once again” for the violations in the Israeli-controlled area, a statement said.

On Thursday, Israeli authorities confiscated 10 tents donated to residents of al-Hadidiya village by aid groups.
The tents had been donated after Israel’s civil administration and military forces demolished Palestinian structures in the in the northern Jordan Valley.

Also in Jordan Valley, the village of Fasayil was issued demolition orders last month that would leave 46 Palestinians homeless, including 31 minors, whose homes have already been demolished several times over.
The missions demanded that all Area C demolitions be halted, and that confiscated humanitarian materials -- including shelter for both residents and livestock -- be returned.

The missions said that the confiscation of animal shelters by Israeli authorities comes at a particularly vulnerable time for residents as winter approaches, the majority of whom are herder communities whose livelihood depends on the well-being of their livestock.

Israel frequently demolishes dwellings of Palestinian communities living in Area C, as well as the temporary structures often donated to the displaced residents by humanitarian groups following such demolitions.

Nearly 600 Palestinian structures were destroyed in 2014, according to documentation by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), displacing over 1,000 Palestinians.

Israel has historically ignored EU requests to halt violations against Palestinians as well as demands to stop settlement expansion.

The behavior led the EU to decide last month to label goods produced in Israel's illegal settlements.
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http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769151

Official: Israel to confiscate 244 dunams of land in northern Hebron

3 December 2015

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities have ruled to confiscate 244 dunams of land from the villages of Surif and al-Jabaa in the northern Hebron district, local officials told Ma'an Thursday.

The mayor of Surif, Muhammad Lati Ghneimat, said that the land is located in the al-Ghazal, Khillet Abu Ghneim, Deir Moussa, and Thahr al-Mansara areas in al-Jabaa village.

“There are hundreds of olive trees planted in these lands that are very old belonging to the Ghneimat, al-Hur, Hmeidat and other families,” the mayor said.

“As soon as we received the military orders from locals we informed specialized sides to legally follow-up on the case.”

Israeli authorities issued the confiscation orders on Tuesday this week.

Local officials say the confiscation of land in the villages is intended to expand the nearby Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

The northern and western entrances of al-Jabaa will be closed following the orders, preventing local farmers from accessing the agricultural lands.

On Jan. 27, an Israeli court issued an order to confiscate hundreds of dunams of land northwest of Hebron in the village of Beit Ula. The land is located in Area C, under full Israeli security and administrative control.

Last December, Israeli authorities declared a vast area of private Palestinian land in the northern Jordan Valley a closed military zone in preparation to confiscate the land, an official said.

Ribhi al-Khandaqji, the governor of the Tubas district, said in a statement that the land was located in the Ein al-Sakut area and measured about 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres).
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