The Ayyad family, owners of the Cliff Hotel, located in Abu Dis, to the southeast of Jerusalem, managed on Sunday to stop the construction of a stretch in the segregation wall near the hotel which, if completed, would have rendered that property under Israeli control, according to Wadi Hilweh Information Center.
WAFA reports that the center said the Ayyad family had to go to court to stop the construction, after the army placed large cement blocks near the hotel, in order to build the section of wall left unfinished when the family contested the route in court.
The family says that Israel wants to build the wall around the hotel to incorporate it into the Jerusalem side and, eventually, take it over for settlement purposes.
Several attempts have been made by Israel to take over the hotel, claiming at one point that it was absentee property, as the owners live in the West Bank.
The family says the Israeli High Court has not yet ruled on the route and, therefore, the unfinished section cannot be completed before then.
The hotel is currently used as a border police base, since being confiscated by Israel over security claims.
The family is trying to regain control of the hotel, which suffered extensive damage after it was taken over by the border police.
