EU: Israel’s demolitions of Palestinian houses, displacement are illegal under international law
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- The European Union has called to “deescalate the situation and seek a peaceful resolution” regarding Israel’s forced displacement of a Palestinian family from its house in Sheikh Jarrah neighbirhood in East Jerusalem.
Representatives of the European Union and like minded countries were on Monday morning in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, “observing the ongoing eviction of Salahia family” by the Israeli occupation authorities.
“Imperative to deescalate the situation and seek a peaceful resolution. Evictions/demolitions are illegal under international law and significantly undermine the prospects for peace as well as fuel tensions on the ground,” the European Union Delegation to the Palestinians tweeted today.
1/2 🇪🇺EU Rep, some member states& likeminded countries are now in Sheikh Jarrah observing the ongoing eviction of Salahia family. The family of 12, incl. 5 children, threatening to set house &themselves on fire, requesting its eviction postponed until court hearing on 23 Jan pic.twitter.com/Z5T3SgEK9A
— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) January 17, 2022
Earlier today, the Israeli occupation forces and municipality staff stormed the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and forced the Salhiya family to empty their nursery of contents, as a prelude to demolish it and seize the land, claiming that the seizure of the land was in the “public interest” to establish a school there.
The house of the family was also cordoned off by the forces who forcibly displaced the family.
The occupation municipality has ordered the family to leave its house and gave it until January 25 to implement the decision. The family received the order at least three times in four months.
However, Mahmoud, the owner of the house, refused today to obey the order of the municipality and threatened to set himself and the house on fire, in opposition to the forced displacement.
Photos | The Salhiya family in the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah set fire at the entrance to their home and threaten to blow up the home using gasoline and gas cylinders in the event of their forceful expulsion by the occupation authorities. pic.twitter.com/o0OZ0e4D6D
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
Hours later, after the occupation forces called in reinforcements as Mahmoud refused to obey the Israeli dispossession order, the family members poured gasoline on their house’s roof and threatened again to set the house on fire.
Watch | Members of the Salhiya family in the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah refuse to obey an Israeli dispossession order and threaten to set their home on fire in the event of their expulsion. pic.twitter.com/hjYe1hCvYh
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
Large numbers of occupation soldiers and police officers have also deployed in the vicinity of the family’s house, besieging the house.
Israeli occupation forces are imposing a siege on the Salhiya family in the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, as the family refuse to obey an Israeli dispossession order and threaten to set their home on fire in the event of their expulsion. pic.twitter.com/s5IoC8bSel
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
The Salhiya family was displaced from its house in the west Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Karem in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of the village.
They bought a new house in the 1950s in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, over a decade before ‘Israel’ occupied and annexed the area. The house is inhabited by two families made up of 12 members, including nine children.
The family was offered by the occupation municipality an eight-month extension to convince them to sign a paper stating that they would become a tenant of the house, but they refused.
The family also said that the battle to keep its house had cost them around NIS 600,000 (about $ 190,000) in fines, the cost of filing cases and appointing lawyers.
"I'll set myself on fire."
Mahmoud Salhiya, a Palestinian home owner from the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, is refusing to obey an Israeli dispossession order, and is threatening to blow up his home in the event of a forceful expulsion.#SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/hM0MBMRDqq
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
More than 500 Palestinians living in 28 houses in the neighborhood are also threatened with forced displacement by settler organizations supported by the Israeli occupation government.
