NAZARETH, (PIC)
Families from the town of Um Tuba, south of occupied Jerusalem, have petitioned an Israeli court to prevent the confiscation of their homes, after it had been discovered that “about 63 dunums of the town’s lands were registered under the name of the Jewish National Fund.”
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement on Wednesday that this measure threatens to evict about 30 Jerusalemite homes, housing 139 citizens, putting them at risk of forced displacement.
The statement quoted lawyers Yazid Qawar and Muhammad Dahla, who represent the families, as saying that the land registration operations were carried out without informing the citizens.
The Israeli occupation authorities relied on what is known as the “Israeli Land Settlement Law,” which is increasingly used to seize the lands of Jerusalemites for settlement purposes, the statement added.
It pointed out that one of the citizens discovered these procedures as he was applying for a construction license, when he was surprised that his land was registered in the name of the “Jewish National Fund.”
After investigation, it was found out that similar seizures took place affecting dozens of dunums in Balja Um Tuba.
The Jerusalem Governorate confirmed that these steps represent a serious threat to the existence of Jerusalemites on their land and come as part of the Israeli Judaization policy against the city, aiming at displacing its original inhabitants.
The Governorate called on human rights and international institutions to take urgent action to stop these violations that aim to change the demographic situation of Jerusalem and impose new facts on the ground.
In recent months, the demolition of Jerusalemites’ homes and the confiscation of their lands for the interest of settlement expansion and settlement projects have escalated, coinciding with the ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip for more than a year.