Israel’s Magistrate Court of Jerusalem on Wednesday ordered the eviction of a Palestinian family from their property in Silwan town south of Occupied Jerusalem.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported in a statement that the court decision gives the family (the heirs of the late Mariam Abu Zuweir) a time limit until March 2019 to evacuate the house.
The targeted property is a house where a Palestinian woman Ilham Syam and four of her children live in addition to a 500-square-meter land.
Wadi Hilweh Center said that the Magistrate Court issued the eviction order before a session appointed by the Supreme Court on 8 January to decide the ownership of the land. Documents were submitted to the court stating that the land on which the house is built belongs to the late Jamil Syam and not to the late Abu Zuweir.
Abu Zuweir’s heirs have been engaged in a conflict at Israeli courts for 22 years to prove their ownership of the property and to refute the claims of the Elad Settlement Association.
Nehad Syam one of the heirs explained that over the past years Elad has worked hard to seize the property in a number of ways.
Syam said that after several court sessions it was found out that Elad had bought 4 shares from the heirs in addition to two shares under “absentee property” leaving only two shares for the late Munira Abu Zuwier and her sister Fatima. A decision to evict the family in favor of the settlers was issued on Wednesday he added.
He pointed out that the family will object to the eviction order at Israel’s Jerusalem District Court.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at least 180 Palestinian families are facing the risk of forced eviction from their homes in Jerusalem due to cases brought against them by settlers or settler associations.
