In the Ibrahimi School Courtyard and around the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil city there are hundreds of old and modern Palestinian houses. However the unfortunate side of this picture is that several of these homes have become “hornets’ nests” where extremist Jewish settlers live after taking them over with the help of the Israeli occupation authority (IOA).
In the southeast corner of the Ibrahimi School Courtyard some Palestinian families live in an old three-story house belonging to the family of Abu Rajab al-Tamimi.
The house which overlooks the Ibrahimi Mosque has been for a while another prey for Jewish fanatics who attempted several times before to seize it and recently managed under Israeli military and security protection to force the Palestinian residents out and occupy it.
Mohamed Abu Rajab the home-owner’s son has appealed to his fellow Palestinian citizens in al-Khalil and other occupied areas to intervene and help the families restore the house.
“Some 120 settlers stormed our house about two weeks ago. They detained us on the first floor and prevented us from going up to the upper floors and the roof. They physically assaulted us and pushed my mother to the ground trying to kill her. All that happened under military protection” Abu Rajab told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC)
“This was not the first time they raided the house. They broke into it in 2012 and stayed there for days before the [Israeli] army drove them out and later they stormed it in 2013 occupying it for several days before being evacuated” he explained.
“They have come back more ferociously this time…they are backed by Israeli ministers and lawmakers. They are still occupying the second and third floors as well as the roof cramming us on the first floor and controlling our entry and exit” he added.
Abu Rajab pointed out that the settlers embarked on carrying diggings inside the house and causing damage to its structure.
For his part Imad Hamdan head of al-Khalil Rehabilitation Committee stated that the IOA and settler groups always take advantage of certain political developments to create new faits accomplis on the ground through carrying out more settlement activities and grabbing lands and homes.
“As you know the break-in at the house of Abu Rajab family took place as the Jerusalemites were busy rallying at the Aqsa Mosque’s gates to protect it” Hamdan said.
He told the PIC that the residents of the house would receive a legal help to force the settlers to leave as happened in 2012 and 2013.
