Colonists on May 09, 2015 took-over a residential building in the neighborhood of Al-Sa’dyeh in the Old City of Jerusalem; the building is owned by “Yozbishi” family. It should be marked that the building consists of three floors (60m2 for each) and a courtyard; several colonies outposts surround the newly seized building.The building was inhabited by Yozbishi family since tens of years but left it short time before the seizure occurred
Residents of the neighborhood told Land Research Center the following:
" We heard noises at early hours of morning, which later on turned out to be colonists trying to seize the building of Yozbishi family. Colonists were protected by Israel Policemen and armed guards. When they broke into the building, colonists held a Talmudic prayer in gratitude for the takeover. Colonists remained in the building while policemen and guards secured the area and provided protection for them.
One resident asserted the following:
" Yozbishi family has been living here since many years; they come from Turkish origins. The family left the building without informing anyone from the area. This is to say that the seizure is likely to be a "property transfer" case, where the owner disappears after receiving huge amounts of money for giving colonists properties in illegal ways".
It should be marked that colonial groups, active in Jerusalem, has been working hard since1967 to seize buildings and structures in all possible means. One methods is through exploiting the s-called Absentees' Property Law. Other methods use fraud and forged documents to prove the Jewish ownership of establishments before 1948. Buying buildings and structures through brokers, also known as Property Transfer, is an active method to seize property in Jerusalem.
Land Research Center sees that fraud methods to seize and take over Palestinian properties are invalid according to the international laws and the UN resolutions, which state that Jerusalem is an occupied city where all acts of selling and purchase are invalid even if being processed legally. Lands and properties’ owners must cling to their rights and must sue colonial groups to restore their rights.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
