Threatening 7 Families with Displacement

Threatening 7 Families with Displacement
Violation: ordering the eviction of 4 houses, inhabited by 7 families (around 50 people).
Location: Al Khaldiyya – Jerusalem.
Date: August, 2011.
Perpetrators:  the so-called Guardian of Absentees Properties (GAP).
 
Details:
The Israeli Occupation GAP threatens to displace 7 families residing in 4 houses. The families have been living in their houses for more than 40 years. They used to pay the lease for the people in charge of the houses, Mohammad abu Mayyala and Shihda Shabana. However, since 2004, they have started paying the lease to the GAP and Hatomim Shtaym colonial society who claim to be the owners.
 
Since 1988, Hatomim Shtaym refused to be paid as to find an excuse to evict the houses and drive the families out. 3 years earlier, GAP served the inhabitants eviction orders which were sent again in August this year. The dwellers insist that there is no way they are going to evict their houses. They insisted that for 7 years they have been paying the rent through mail on time. The GAP claims that they sent back some of the money but the Palestinians dent their claims.
 
Threatened families:
  • Ahmad Al Hashima, living in a 2-bedroom-house for 40 years.
  • Hamouda Castero (60), he has been living with his 5-member-family for 40 years in the 2-bedroom-house.
  • Mohammad As Sidawi: 2 people who have been living in an under construction 40-m2-bedroom. On the second floor, 4 families are living in one big bedroom which is separated by cupboards.

Picture 1: endangered houses
 
On the other hand, Israeli colonists broke into two houses that were inhabited by Abu Rajab family. Currently, a Jewish family occupies the upper floor while another Israeli lives on the ground floor; it seems that his task is harassing Palestinians and trouble making. There are no permanent residents on the ground floor; they are people with criminal records; members of the so called Shufwa Baneem, which is rehabilitation house that holds within a number of people with criminal records. 28 families have been residing there since 1981.
 
 The Land Research Center Views the Guardian of Absentees Property measures as a total delusion with the sole purpose of serving the activities of Colonial Societies agendas with the sole intention of taking over as much Palestinian Property as possible. Such measures are a reflection of the Israelis overall policy in regard with Jerusalem; a policy that calls for displacing Palestinians and replacing them with ‘Jewish’ inhabitants in an attempt to erase the city’s true identity. The Israelis are brushing aside all the international agreements and conventions; we believe that it is time to remember the UN General Assembly decisions saying that ‘Zionism is a form of racism’.