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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sheikh-jarrah-evictions-israel-palestinians-reject-deal-settlers">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Sheikh Jarrah Palestinians reject Israeli court deal with settlers</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Latifeh Abdellatif - November 2, 2021</div></div>
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<div><p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a> families facing expulsion from their homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah have turned down an <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a> court's proposal that would eventually lead to their eviction in favour of Jewish settlers.</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">"We
rejected the 'proposal' by the Israeli Supreme Court, which would have
rendered us 'protected tenants' at the mercy of settler organisations,"
the families said in a statement.</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">"We
stand firm in our refusal to compromise on our rights despite the lack
of institutional guarantees that would protect our presence as
Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem."</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">Israeli
authorities have been attempting to expel four Palestinian families
from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood for months, despite the
Palestinians living in their homes for generations.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">'This
is our decision, which we made a long time ago, not today. The people
of Sheikh Jarrah have proven their firm positions during the past
period'</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says"><em>- Muna el-Kurd, Sheikh Jarrah resident</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">The
plight of the families has become an issue that has attracted attention
across the world, and been a rallying cry for Palestinians in the
occupied West Bank, beseiged Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, Israel and beyond.</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">In
May, the possible evictions triggered protests in Palestinian towns and
cities in Israel and contributed to a flare-up in violence in Gaza,
where Israel waged a deadly bombing campagin. Israeli forces killed <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-gaza-west-bank-palestinians-israelis-killed-names" target="_blank">at least 260 Palestinians</a>, including 66 children. Twelve people were killed in Israel by Palestinian rockets, including two children. </p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">“This
is our decision, which we made a long time ago, not today. The people
of Sheikh Jarrah have proven their firm positions during the past
period," Muna el-Kurd, a 23-year-old resident of the nieghbourhood and
renowned activist, told Middle East Eye.</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">Muna and her brother Mohammed el-Kurd have become the public face of the families' fight against expulsion.</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">Outisde their home, their father, Nabil, said the family would be "sitting here and persisting until our last breath".</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">"For
this land, we want to stay and endure, and to continue being a lump in
the throat of the settlers and their supporters," he told MEE.</p>
<p>The Palestinians are some of 28 families who are facing similar
court-ordered evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, which Israel occupied in the
1967 Middle East war. Around 500 Palestinians are at threat of explusion
overall.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/time-100-sheikh-jarrahs-outspoken-el-kurd-twins-make-magazines-top-100-list#autoplay" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/video_thumbnails/Un0dXZSytOQ.jpg?itok=MB5ncD0n" alt="" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p>Time 100: Sheikh Jarrah’s outspoken el-Kurd twins make magazine’s top 100 list</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/time-100-sheikh-jarrahs-outspoken-el-kurd-twins-make-magazines-top-100-list#autoplay" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>Earlier this year, a Jerusalem court ruled against the families, who
have then lodged a series of appeals moving the case up to the Israeli
Supreme Court. With the case so emotive and attracting worldwide
attention, the court has repeatedly postponed judgement, and most
recently attempted to strike a deal between the Israeli settlers and the
Palestinian families.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court asked the Palestinians to accept a scheme where
they can live in their homes for at least 15 years, paying a symbolic
amount of rent. It is illegal for Israel to settle its citizens in
occupied Palestinian land under international law.</p>
<p>Now the court must consider the Palestinians' appeal. The families
were originally settled in Sheikh Jarrah in 1956 by Jordan, which
controlled Jerusalem's eastern neighbourhoods at the time, and the
United Nations. They had been displaced from their homes during the 1948
Arab-Israeli war.</p>
<p>Settlement groups argue that the land previously belonged to Jewish
families, some of which were also said to have been uprooted in 1948.
Israel does not allow the return of any Palestinians expelled during
that conflict or their descendants, but regularly settles its own
citizens in territory it captured in 1967.</p>
<p>Muna el-Kurd said: "We have remained silent due to the
confidentiality of the legal procedure and the necessity of not leaking
it to the settlers."</p>
<p>"The occupation government bears responsibility for the theft of our homes," she added.</p>
<p>Aref Hammad, another homeowner at risk of eviction, told MEE: "We
thank all the lawyers who stood by our side in our case, and we reject
any accusations against them. We must confirm that no one pressured us
to make our decision, but it was a decision from the people of the
neighbourhood."</p>
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