Tensions high again in east Jerusalem
With a new government about to be sworn in in just a few days and with the Supreme Court to discuss Sheikh Jarrah eviction in the very near future, tensions are high in Jerusalem.
Tensions in East Jerusalem keep escalating, as the Supreme Court should rule in the coming days on the petition by Palestinian families against their eviction from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Four Palestinian families had been served last October with eviction orders, after the court ruled in favor of Jewish settler groups claiming ownership of the premises. The Jewish groups say the lands on which Sheikh Jarrah was constructed belonged to Jews before 1948. Many other Palestinian families could also be evicted in the near future.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit notified this morning the Supreme Court that he will not intervene in the affair. A statement by his office said it will not step in as a civil side in the matter. Last month, the Supreme Court accepted a request by Mandelblit to postpone a session on the petition. At the time, Mandelblit explained he was considering joining the process and attending the debate. Mandelblit’s request was related to the security escalation over the imminent eviction, with violent demonstrations taking place in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country.
Reportedly, Mandelblit now estimates that the law is not on the side of the Palestinian families, and that stopping the eviction process would be difficult, if not impossible. Reports also claim Mandelblit had decided not to advance a possible solution — which would be for the state to confiscate the homes in question. Once confiscated, the residents of such buildings would be protected from eviction. Still, the attorney general had apparently assessed that the Palestinian families would not go along with this solution, which they had already refused in the past. In fact, the petitioners had refused any compromise that recognizes ownership by the settlers.
On June 6, police detained for several hours two prominent Palestinian activists who had been campaigning against the threatened expulsion. Mona el-Kurd, 23, has over 1 million followers on her Instagram account, dedicated to the battle against the imminent eviction. She was arrested at her home in Sheikh Jarrah, but released later in the day. Police said she was suspected of participating in riots. With her, police also detained her twin brother, Muhammad el-Kurd, a militant and social media activist. He has 550,000 followers on his Instagram account and 180,000 followers on Twitter. Thus, the detention of the two siblings raised much attention across the globe.
