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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-jerusalem-sheikh-jarrah-what-next-after-palestinians-reject-court-deal">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Sheikh Jarrah: Can a new 'popular solidarity' save the neighbourhood from evictions?</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Aseel Jundi in Jerusalem - November 7 2021<br></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 are currently considering their next step
after they rejected 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>Saleh Diab, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah who is threatened
with eviction, told Middle East Eye that the Palestinian refusal of the
compromise offered by the court is an appropriate decision as the
settlers themselves also refused it.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sheikh-jarrah-evictions-israel-palestinians-reject-deal-settlers" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/PHOTO-2021-11-02-14-23-45.jpg?itok=pYOtlu26" alt="" width="400" height="250"></a></p><p>Sheikh Jarrah evictions: Palestinians reject Israeli court deal with settlers</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sheikh-jarrah-evictions-israel-palestinians-reject-deal-settlers" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>The settlers are seeking a definitive ruling by the court, ordering
immediate eviction of the Palestinian residents and acknowledging the
settlers' right of ownership to property in the neighbourhood.</p>
<p>Diab described the ruling proposed by the highest judicial authority
in Israel as "a trap". He says, however, that the residents should feel
comfortable because the rest of the Palestinian people are standing in
solidarity with them.</p>
<p>"The Palestinian resistance also pledged its readiness to wage a new
war in case the Israeli occupation proceeds with its crime of evacuating
the neighbourhood," Diab said.</p>
<p>Although Diab does not believe that any of the families will be
evicted soon, he predicts that the restriction and harassment of the
residents will increase following their refusal of the compromise.</p>
<p>In fact, he said, the harassment had already begun with the decision
by the Municipality of Jerusalem to build a nursery school for Jewish
children. This is in addition to a plethora of arbitrary decisions to
confiscate property and to hand eviction orders to residents in the
western part of the neighbourhood.</p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/Saleh%20Ziab%20resident%20Sheikh%20Jarrah%20November%202021%20MEE.JPG" alt="saleh diab sheikh jarrah resident november 2021 mee" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="452" height="301"></p>
Saleh Diab speaks to MEE from his home in Sheikh Jarrah, 4 November 2021 (MEE/Aseel Jundi)</div>
<p>The case is getting more complicated by the day as the
Israeli settlers continue to claim ownership of an 18 dunum property
that hosts 500 Palestinian refugees who were given housing units in the
Karm al-Jaouni neighbourhood by the Jordanian government and the UN
Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). </p>
<p>On 2 November, the residents <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sheikh-jarrah-evictions-israel-palestinians-reject-deal-settlers" target="_blank">declared</a>
their refusal of a compromise proposed by Israel's Supreme Court which
would enable them to stay in their homes as protected tenants under the
Nahalat Shimon Jewish settler company in a prelude to expropriating
their property by degrees.</p>
<p>The Palestinians accuse the court of evading the responsibility of
reaching a final ruling, yet coercing them to choose between eviction
from their homes or succumbing to a malicious deal.</p>
<p>Palestinians see this as an extension of the colonial policies that
aim to disrupt the social solidarity they have achieved since May during
the latest popular protest movement.</p>
<p>They also consider such recourse as an attempt to conceal what they say amounts to "<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israels-ethnic-cleansing-was-not-historical-exception-palestine-it-happening-today" target="_blank">ethnic cleansing</a>" committed by Israel and its settlers.</p>
<p>The Palestinian residents hold the Israeli government accountable for
the expropriation of their homes, but they also extend the same
responsibility to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the UNRWA, and Jordan
who built the Sheikh Jarrah housing units as residential homes in 1956
and granted the residents ownership rights to the property.</p>
<h3>'Undisputed ownership'</h3>
<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, besieged 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 campaign. </p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">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>
<blockquote>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says">'We
will not go back on our decision because we have evidence from Turkey,
Jordan, and the UNRWA confirming our undisputed ownership of the
property,'</p>
<p dir="auto" title="UPDATE 1-Palestinians facing Jerusalem evictions reject compromise with settlers, activist says"><em>- Hashem Sallymeh, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hashem Sallymeh, also a resident of Sheikh Jarrah, told MEE that rejecting the court's deal was the right decision. </p>
<p>"We are heading towards the unknown, but we strongly believe in the justice of our cause," he said.</p>
<p>"We will not go back on our decision because we have evidence from
Turkey, Jordan, and the UNRWA confirming our undisputed ownership of the
property. However, the settlers resorted to malice and forgery and the
Israeli courts stood by them."</p>
<p>Sallymeh is not hopeful about the justice or fairness of any ruling by the Israel Supreme Court in the future.</p>
<p>"How could a court sitting on stolen land [the court lies on the land
of the displaced village of Lifta] rule in fairness or even be
described as a Supreme Court? We don’t trust the Judicial System of the
occupation," he said.</p>
<p>Sallymeh argues that Israel will continue to pursue all means to
forcibly evict and dispossess the residents of Sheikh Jarrah in favour
of settler-colonial projects that serve its biblical narrative in
Jerusalem.</p>
<h3>Four legal options</h3>
<p>Khaled Zabarka, a Jerusalem attorney told MEE that there are
four legal routes available before the Supreme Court within the few
coming days after the Palestinian residents of Sheikh
Jarrah announced their refusal of the deal proposed by the same court.</p>
<p>The first option is to schedule a new court session to hear the
defence from both parties. The second is to propose a new modified deal.
The third is to request a summary of the previous pleas.</p>
<p>The fourth option is the issuance of a ruling based on the legal
pleas available before the court from the appeal request folder that was
lodged by the Sheikh Jarrah families against the two eviction rulings
issued by the Magistrate and Central courts respectively. </p>
<p>Zabaraka maintains that the space available before the Israeli
Supreme Court is quite limited when it comes to the acceptance of the
appeal lodged by Palestinian residents and cancellation of eviction
orders as it could contradict previous rulings by other courts.</p>
<p>Zabaraka added that the court considerations are not purely legal.
Rather, it also has to consider how the Jews would react if it issues a
ruling in favour of the Arabs.</p>
<p>The court is also cautious about the consequences of turning down the
appeal and granting property ownership rights to the settlers within
the wider regional and international context.</p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/palestinians%20still%20hang%20save%20sheikh%20jarrah%20banners%20MEE%20November%202021.JPG" alt="palestinians hang banner save sheikh jarrah november 2021 mee" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="452" height="301"></p>
Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah display Save Sheikh Jarrah
banners and continue their calls for halting possible evictions, 4
November 2021 (MEE/Aseel Jundi)</div>
<p>As a result, the supreme judicial authority in Israel found
itself in a difficult situation. It hoped that both parties would accept
the proposed deal and it could avoid a politically controversial
situation, according to Zabaraka.</p>
<p>Ziyad Ibhais, a Jerusalem affairs researcher, said that Israel was
hoping that the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah would accept
the court's proposal, so that "the Sheikh Jarrah case would be removed
from the central issues in the conflict for several years to come".</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sheikh-jarrah-palestine-israel-high-court-rule-expulsion-palestinian-families" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Sheikh%20Jarrah%20court%2002082021%20Reuters.jpg?itok=2Bf2rmjJ" alt="" width="400" height="250"></a></p><p>Sheikh Jarrah: High court defers decision on expulsion of Palestinians from their homes</p>
</div>
<p>The collective refusal by the Palestinians came as a surprise for
Israel. "It deprived the occupation of an opportunity to announce a
total victory in case the residents accepted the deal," says Ibhais.</p>
<p>Israel pre-empted the court ruling by expropriating the property of
both the Odeh and Obeidat families on the eastern side of the
neighbourhood just two days before the end of the ultimatum, as well as
the issuance of eviction orders to residents on the western side of the
area only one day after the end of the deal.</p>
<p>Based on this collective stance by the Palestinians, Ibhais is expecting "a retaliatory and vindictive escalation" by Israel. </p>
<p>He believes it is high time to renew the popular solidarity around the people of Sheik Jarrah.</p>
<p>"It is of vital importance to recognise that the Karm al-Jaouni issue
- as well as the issues of the other neighbourhoods facing the peril of
displacement - is not only a case of property to be defended by the
owners and their lawyers," says Ibhais. "But rather it is a political,
existential issue."</p>
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