UN human rights experts said on Wednesday that the forced eviction and displacement of the Sob Laban family and many other Palestinian families in east Jerusalem may amount to a war crime of forcible transfer calling for backtracking on such measures immediately.
&ldquoIt is deeply shocking and heartbreaking to see Nora Ghaith and Mustafa Sob Laban an elderly Palestinian couple evicted from their family home where they have lived all their lives and raised their children&rdquo the UN experts said.
&ldquoIsraeli police forcibly evicted Nora Ghaith and Mustafa Sob Laban from their home in the Old City of Jerusalem in the early hours of 11 July. The Ghaith-Sob Laban family who had a protected lease on the house since 1953 reportedly faced constant harassment and lawsuits from Israeli authorities and settlers seeking to seize their home under an inherently discriminatory law that applies to Palestinians in east Jerusalem&rdquo the experts explained in a press release.
&ldquoAs we have repeatedly said forced evictions of Palestinians in east Jerusalem are part of Israel’s apartheid machinery at work designed to consolidate Jewish ownership of Jerusalem and racially dominate the city’s population&rdquo the experts said.
They stressed that the case of the Ghaith Sob-Laban family is not unique but is representative of a widespread and systematic practice by Israel to forcibly evict and displace Palestinians from east Jerusalem and &ldquode-Palestinize&rdquo the city. Across east Jerusalem there are reportedly around 150 Palestinian families at risk of forced eviction and displacement by Israeli authorities and settler organizations.
&ldquoIsrael’s transfer of its own population (settlers) into the occupied territory is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime&rdquo the experts said. &ldquoNothing speaks more blatantly of its intention to annex and colonize the occupied territory in violation of international law.&rdquo
&ldquoIsrael must immediately cease these deliberate acts which not only deliberately violate Palestinians&rsquo rights to self-determination non-discrimination development adequate housing and property but also traumatize the affected family and the entire Palestinian community living defenseless under Israeli rule and violate the fundamental norms and principles of international law&rdquo they said.
They urged other countries to &ldquoput an end to the unrelenting assaults on the system of international law.&rdquo
The experts pointed out that they had repeatedly raised these issues with the Israeli government without any response to date.
