I might feel different were this an ancestral homestead in occupied territory but it's not. Anyone who claims title through Jordan is doing just what Israel is commonly accused of --- squatting on someone else's land. The East Quarter was the Jewish quarter, that was besieged by Jordan in the '48, with victorious result that drove out its populace, and left Jordan in occupation of the place.

The Jewish National Fund is expected to greenlight a review of hundreds of property assets beyond the Green Line, many of which hold a similar legal status to homes in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah

Hagar Shezaf and Nir Hasson
Aug. 5, 2021 6:04 AM

A new initiative by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) on registration of properties beyond the Green Line could lead to the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

JNF's board of directors is set to meet on Thursday to approve the plan, which entails reviewing 17,000 property assets across Israel and the West Bank that have not been registered to date. The entire project is expected to cost about 100 million shekels ($31 million) and take five years to execute.

Source : https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-jnf-set-to-approve-plan-that-could-lead-to-palestinians-eviction-1.10086143

The forefathers of Zionism never hid their desire to use the Jewish National Fund to dispossess Palestinians. On its 120th anniversary, now is the time to abolish it.

By Yaara Benger Alaluf
July 8, 2021



Revisiting the history of the JNF and its leaders shows that purchasing land in the West Bank, kicking families out of their homes in East Jerusalem, and sending bulldozers to trample farming equipment and houses in the Negev-Naqab are far from stains on a glorious record, nor are they an anomaly. They are fundamental features of the JNF’s mandate. As the organization marks its 120th anniversary, it is high time to stop colluding with its projects and propaganda and demand the Jewish National Fund be disbanded immediately.

Source : https://www.972mag.com/jnf-zionism-palestinians-dispossession/

New legal opinion could change the fate of the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan eviction cases

21.7.21

A group of Israeli international law experts have filed a brief with the Israeli Supreme Court stating a Palestinian family from Silwan facing a settler eviction application must remain in its home.

A group of world renowned Israeli experts on international human rights law, have filed an application to submit an amicus curiae brief in the first High Court case concerning an eviction application brought by settlers against a Palestinian family from Batan al-Hawa in Silwan. This case will have implications for hundreds of other residents facing eviction.

The amicus curiae brief prepared by prominent Israeli experts on International Law, Prof. Eyal Benvenisti, Prof. Orna Ben Naftali, Dr. Natalie Davidson and Prof. David Kretzmer, represented by Adv. Michael Sfard and Adv. Hagai Benziman, is relevant to other eviction applications in Silwan and in Sheikh Jarrah where over 1000 people are at risk of being displaced by settlers. The opinion presents hitherto unheard arguments rooted in international human rights law.

According to the brief, the Palestinian residents’ human right to housing, includes a right to continue living in properties that have served as their homes for decades, and that they have developed certain property rights to these homes. The brief addresses an approach that has emerged in international jurisprudence on human rights law which puts an emphasis on group vulnerability of occupants facing eviction and institutional, systemic discrimination against them. Where these are present, in certain circumstances, the occupants’ rights, stemming from the human right to housing and specifically, to live in their home and their family’s home – trump the right of the original owner or their substitute to regain possession of the property.

Continued at : https://peacenow.org.il/en/new-legal-opinion-could-change-the-fate-of-the-sheikh-jarrah-and-silwan-eviction-cases