OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Jerusalemite Muhammad Awda Kestiro said that he is the owner of the “Al-Masrara” cafe near the Damascus Gate area in occupied Jerusalem and that he will not abandon it even if the Israeli occupation authority seizes it.
Kestiro pointed out a long legal battle he has fought since 2010, during which he received several eviction orders for the café, but he refused to comply, insisting on his right to use the place until the occupation forces came on Sunday 17/11/2024 and forcibly evicted him, according to Al Jazeera Net.
He continued, “I am the owner of the Al-Masrara cafe, and I will remain the rightful owner. If I do not return to it in my lifetime, my children and grandchildren will return to it one day.”
Kestiro, speaking in front of the café shortly after the occupation forces took it over for the benefit of settlement organizations, mentioned that he rented the café from the “enemy property custodian” in Jordan in 1954, asserting that the occupation has no legal claim over it.
He explained that with the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, all records and documents of the Jordanian custodian of absentee properties were seized, including the lease contract for the café. “With the formation of the extremist Israeli government (in late 2022), the harassment intensified, and they refused to renew the lease,” he added.
In 1950, the Israeli Knesset enacted the “Absentee Property Law” as legislation to deal with the properties of Palestinians who were displaced in the 1948 war, facilitating their transfer to Israelis.
Regarding the pretext of Jewish ownership of the place before the Nakba of 1948, Kestiro stated that the Jews who owned the café were Palestinians who have lived in the city throughout the ages since the time of Omar ibn al-Khattab (more than 1400 years ago), and not those who came from abroad and seized it. He emphasized that the goal of the pursuit is to expel Arabs and Muslims from Jerusalem.
While holding the keys to the café with its doors locked behind him, Kestiro said, “These keys mean everything to me. They will remain in my hand until the last moment, and if possible, I will ask to be buried with them. I will continue to bring a chair and sit here in front of the cafe.”
