The Palestinian News Network, PNN, reported that the Israeli Supreme Court has decided to evict the families of Ghazi Zalloum and Ismail Wazwaz from their homes in the neighborhood of Alqurma in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. The houses wiill be taken over by Israeli settlers. The court claimed that both properties belonged to Jews before 1948, the year Israel was created in the historic land of Palestine.
Lawyer Mohammed Dahleh reported that the Israeli Supreme Court confirmed Tuesday the November ruling of the District Court. The Court also instructed that all Court and attorney costs be paid by the two families.
Haiel Sandouka, specialist in settlement affairs, told the France Press Agency that the settlers had also filed a lawsuit for eviction against two other Palestinian families; Azzam Sharabti and Shaker Abu Assab, on the grounds that their homes were the property of Jews before 1948.
He added that the settlers had also removed resident Ayed Costaro from his store, and occupied it. They subsequently turned it into a banqueting hall and constructed a tunnel linking the neighborhoods of Al Karmi and Al Khalidiya.
Ghazi Zalloum, the owner of one of the houses, stated that by removing him from his own property Israel will be evicting Palestinians from half the houses of the Al Karmi and Al Khalidiya neighborhoods, both located in occupied East Jerusalem.
He added that ‘The eviction process is a political issue rather than an issue of ownership by Arab or Jew. This decision was made at the same time as the announcement of early parliamentary elections and is a message to the Israelis that Israel liberates Jerusalem from the Arabs.’
Extremist settler organization, ‘Ateret Cohanim’, has enabled 900 settlers to reside in the Old City of Jerusalem in addition to the 3,100 Jews living in the Jewish quarter.
East Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Israel following the 1967 six-day war, and in 1980, the Israeli Knesset issued the illegal ‘Jerusalem Law’ annexing East Jerusalem and intending to make Jerusalem, both West and East, the eternal and undivided capital of Israel.
On August 20, 1980, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution #478 which declared Israel’s ‘Jerusalem Law’ a violation of international law and considered it ‘null and void’; Israel ignored the resolution.
The Council said it will not recognize this law and called on all UN member states to adopt resolution 478. The resolution was passed with 14 votes to none against, with the United States abstaining.
