Historic Jerusalem district threatened by settler group
The houses of several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem are threatened with destruction or expropriation by a powerful Israeli organization working to expand the settlements.
JERUSALEM — The family of Nohad Siam is making legal preparations for the upcoming trial in March 2019 in the case, the Jerusalemite and his brothers, filed to prove the ownership of their grandmother’s house for his mother Mariam Abu Zweir. The house is located in Wadi Helwe in the Silwan district south of the Old City of East Jerusalem.
Ownership of Siam's grandmother’s house is at risk of falling completely to settlers after the Israeli Magistrate Court in Jerusalem ruled Dec. 5 to evict its inhabitants in line with the Elad Settlement Association’s claim of owning the majority of shares in the house.
Elad Association is among the richest NGOs in Israel and operates in about about 70 settlement outposts in Silwan, most of which are located in Wadi Helwe, the neighborhood closest to Al-Aqsa. The association funds archeaological digs in the region and can afford high offers to buy out Palestinian properties.
According to Siam, the Magistrate Court’s decision gave the family until March to evacuate. Siam and his siblings appealed to the Supreme Court to prove their ownership of the land on which the house was built and which documentation shows was their father’s. As is the case of this, for land registered before 1948, Palestinians title deeds are from Ottoman records.
