On the morning of Thursday July 29th, 2010, about 40 armed Israeli colonists associated with the far-right group Ateret Cohanim raided Al Qurush Building No. 2 located in Al Sa’adiya Neighborhood in the Old City of Jerusalem. The building had an overall area of 1,000 m2 and has more than 14 apartments. At the time of the raid, 9 Palestinian families (n = 47) were residing in the building; 5 families in the 2nd floor of the building while the remaining 4 resided in the 1st floor. Members of Ateret Cohanim took advantage of the presence of most of the residents at a nearby wedding party to take over the building.
Pic. 1: Al Qurush family homeless in Jerusalem after the takeover of their homes – The Old City.
The following table lists the names of the evicted families:
|
|
Head of Evicted Family |
Household Members |
No. of Children |
Notes |
|
1 |
Mazen Kamal Qurush |
11 |
|
He was at home at the time of the takeover |
|
2 |
Ala’ Kamal Qurush |
8 |
6 |
|
|
3 |
Munther Kamal Qurush |
5 |
3 |
|
|
4 |
Majdi Kamal Qurush |
5 |
3 |
|
|
5 |
Majed Kamal Qurush |
7 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
Naser Kamal Qurush |
6 |
4 |
|
|
7 |
Mohammad Kamal Qurush |
6 |
3 |
|
|
8 |
Salah Harbi Qurush |
2 |
0 |
|
|
9 |
Sami Harbi Mustafa Qurush |
1 |
0 |
|
Pic. 2: The Israeli Police standing at the front of the Qurush Building to protect the invaders
Pic. 3: A child from the Qurush family sitting in front of the building of his family after being forced out by the colonists.
Mr. Sami Qurush expressed the following to the Land Research Center (LRC)’s field researcher about the colonists’ takeover of the building:
At about 2:00 AM Israeli colonists made their way into our building. They have broken all of the locks of the apartments under the protection of the Israeli Police and the Israeli Border Police. The colonists do not have a legal decision calling for our eviction or allowing them to enter the building. We contacted our lawyer, Mr. Samer Al Zughby, who came to the building at 3:00 AM. We headed towards the Police Station to file a complaint against the colonists who occupied our homes. At noon, we went to court and got a decision to remove the colonists out. At around 7:30 PM a number of Qurush family members arrived at building with the court order that was given to the Israeli Police present at the scene as to execute it. Yet, the Police made up a number of excuses to delay the execution of the court order as to allow additional time for the colonists to get an injunction against the court order.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
