Violent protests
Palestinian evictions escalate
01/17/2022 12:36 p.m
Already in 2021 there will be massive tensions due to the forced eviction of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem. Against the background of another expulsion, protests against the Israeli settlement policy have flared up again in the disputed district of Sheikh Jarrah.
Protests broke out during a house clearance in the disputed district of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. According to the Israeli police, a group of young people with a gas bottle and combustible material holed themselves up in the home of a Palestinian family. A group of negotiators are currently trying to de-escalate the situation. Palestinian media reported instead that the father of the family threatened to set fire to the house.
The dispute over the houses of seven Palestinian families in the district last year caused massive tensions. Jewish groups have claimed ownership of the land. Israel’s highest court is currently deciding what to do with the houses. The Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, called the dispute over this a trigger for massive rocket attacks on Israel in May last year. This was followed by an eleven-day armed conflict between the two sides.
According to the police, Israel wants to build a school for children with special needs and six kindergarten groups on the site of the house. There was already an eviction notice in 2017. The Jerusalem district court informed the family about a year ago that they had to vacate the house. There have been countless attempts to reach an amicable agreement with the residents. The city administration is now implementing the eviction notice from the court, it said.
Israel’s settlement policy is highly controversial. At the end of 2016, the UN Security Council called on Israel to completely stop settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the annexed East Jerusalem. Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. More than 600,000 Jewish settlers live there today. The Palestinians, on the other hand, want the territories for an independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.