Sheikh Jarrah
Sheikh Jarrah is a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, constructed in 1956 by the Jordanian government and the United Nations to provide housing for 28 Palestinian families who were refugees from the 1948 war. After 3 years of paying a symbolic the rent the ownership of the houses was supposed to fall to the families living in them.
Eviction of Arab Families
The families in the neighbourhood had faced years of pressure to sell the properties to Jewish groups. In 2001 a settler group broke into a sealed section of the al-Kurd family's house whilst Muhammad al-Kurd was in hospital receiving treatment for diabetes. The group refused to leave, claiming that the property was owned by a settler group.
In 2008 the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the "Shimon Hatzadik" property belonged to the Committee for the Sephardic Group. Despite a 1972 court ruling that the Arab families should enjoy protected tenant status, several Arab families have been forcefully evicted over the years including the al-Kurd family at 3:30 AM on November 9 2008, a move that was officially protested by the United States. Jewish settlers moved in to replace the evicted Arab families. Mohammed al-Kurd, the head of the al-Kurd family, died 11 days after the eviction. The court ruling was based upon an Ottoman-era bill of sale whose authenticity was disproved in 2009 when Turkey provided access to official Turkish archives that showed that the building was only rented to the Jewish group and not sold.
Fawzieh al-Kurd continues to protest the eviction and lives in an encampment in East Jerusalem. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Landmarks
The tomb of Simon the Righteous is apocryphally located in Sheikh Jarrah.
References
- ^ Elder, Akiva (2008-07-27). "U.S. protests eviction of Arab family from East Jerusalem home". Haaretz.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Gayer, Marcey (2009-07-10). "Sheikh Jarrah residents refuse to be displaced". Electronic Intifada.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Levy, Gideon (2008-12-27). "Twilight Zone / Non-Jews need not apply". Haaretz.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Hasson, Nir (2009-03-19). "Turkish documents prove Arabs own E. Jerusalem building". Haaretz.
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