Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Friday said that the eviction of Shamasneh family from their home in Jerusalem on Tuesday is part of an Israeli ethnic cleansing policy targeting Palestinians in the occupied city.
Hamas’s spokesman Hazem Kasem said in a statement that forcing Shamasneh family out of their house falls in line with Israeli attempts to Judaize the holy city.
Shamasneh family’s house located in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was evacuated by force on Tuesday in preparation to be handed over to Israeli settlers.
Earlier on Friday the EU representative in Palestine as well as other heads of EU missions in Jerusalem condemned in a joint statement the eviction of Shamasneh family.
The statement pointed out that at least 180 Palestinian families living in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem are threatened with displacement.
On Thursday night Israeli settlers raised an Israeli flag on the roof of the house before surrounding it with surveillance cameras on Friday.
Israeli authorities claim that Shamasneh family’s house in addition to houses of other Palestinian families in Jerusalem were built on lands owned by Jews before 1948.
The Palestinian families have submitted in the recent years many documents refuting the Israeli claims but the Israeli courts did not recognize them.
Since the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 the holy city has been targeted with many settlement projects and tight restrictions imposed on the Palestinian construction activity there.
