Israel Matzav

Jews win court battle over Beit Hanina home, Arabs evicted

An eight-year court battle over a home in Sheikh Jarrah has ended with a court verdict recognizing a Jewish purchase of the home 35 years ago, and ordering its Arab squatters evicted.

For the record, the picture at the top is probably not from the home in question.

According to Israel Land Fund director Aryeh King, a Jewish buyer 35 years ago purchased two buildings, each with two apartments. The properties also belonged to Jewish residents prior to 1948, he said.

An eight-year court battle with the current residents recently concluded with the court’s decision to award ownership of the house to the Jewish buyer. The controversy over the Shimon Hatzadik homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was a similar issue, where the courts awarded contested ownership to Jewish owners. The 2009 eviction of three Arab families prompted nearly two years of weekly protests and the founding of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement.

In Beit Hanina, the family in one of the buildings heeded the court decision and evacuated, per King’s promise to waive the NIS 250,000 debt the court awarded to the Israel Land Fund for damages resulting from the court case.

The second family, headed by Khaled Suliman Natche, refused to move and was evicted on Wednesday morning.

“Even if [King] gave me a million shekels I wouldn’t give him the keys,” said Natche two weeks ago. “I’m not going to leave, I will die here. Whatever they want to do, they can do. Whatever they want, I’m not leaving the house. If they kill me, they kill me,” he said.

Natche added that because land transactions in his neighborhood between Arabs are generally not filed with the municipality, they could not prove their ownership of part of the land.

Beit Hanina is on the left side of the road as you drive from French Hill toward Pisgat Zev and Neve Yaakov. The two buildings are to become a 50-unit apartment complex. God willing, Jews will live there. Heh.

Labels: East Jerusalem

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:57 PM