Middle East Monitor / July 17, 2024
Jewish settlers from the Ateret Cohanim settlement association seized the house of Palestinian Jerusalemite Jawad Abu Naab in the Silwan neighbourhood of Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood in the occupied city on Tuesday, Safa news agency has reported. The head of the neighbourhood committee told the agency that local residents were surprised to find settlers inside the house where they were installing windows and doors.
Zuhair al-Rajabi pointed out that the residents contacted the occupation state police to inform them that settlers had taken over the house, but no action was taken. He explained that the occupation’s Central Court rejected the appeal submitted by the committee in Abu Naab’s name on 8 July against the decision to evict the family from their home in the neighbourhood.
Al-Rajabi noted that the settlers took advantage of the absence of the homeowner and anticipated the decision of the Supreme Court. They knew that the committee was going to go to the higher court after the appeal was rejected in the lower court.
He pointed out that settlers also seized the home of Jawad’s father, Sabri, and his uncle, Abdullah, in 2015, about 15 years after the issue of their homes was heard in the Israeli courts. They were each, along with their sister, forced to pay 652,000 shekels (about $180,000).
According to Al-Rajabi, the process of settlers seizing Palestinian homes occurs after a final decision is issued by the Israeli courts, and without going to the Israeli department to implement the eviction order. The settlers who seized the house of Jawad Abu Naab’s father and uncle closed the main entrance to his house so that Jawad could not enter.
The settler associations operate systematically and take individual decisions to seize Palestinian homes, said the neighbourhood committee head. This is not the first time that settlers have seized homes in the neighbourhood without seeking help from the occupation police or the Israeli Procedures Department. “The latest home seizure without waiting for court decisions,” added Al-Rajabi, “is a dangerous indicator given the current conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
All of Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the settlers who live in them are illegal under international law.
