Illegal Israeli Settlers Take Home In The Old City, East Jerusalem

Thursday July 29, 2010 14:57 by Brian Ennis - IMEMC & Agencies

Illegal Israeli settlers, with the protection of the Israeli occupation government police, invaded a building in the Old City.

Early Thursday morning settlers and police stormed a building in the Old City of East Jerusalem and evicted three families from their apartments.

A spokesperson for the police said that the Jewish settlers had documents claiming that they owned the properties and that there was no altercation as the evictions occurred.

Only after the settlers occupied the residences in the building did the police ask to see the documents allegedly proving ownership. They will look over the documents in an attempt to verify their legitimacy.

Fifty persons were evicted in the action. A Palestinian official in the city fears that the settlers could forcibly occupy the entire structure of eleven apartments for a yeshiva, as it was a school before 1967.

Guarded Israeli settlers seize new house in Jerusalem neighborhood [ 29/07/2010 - 12:15 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Palestinian sources said that illgal Israeli settlers escorted by policemen took over a two-story house at an early hour Thursday in Sa'adiya neighborhood in the old city of occupied Jerusalem.

The sources added that the house is owned by a Palestinian citizen called Sulaiman Handal and is inhabited by the family of Kamal Qirsh.

One of the neighbors reported that the residents of the neighborhood rushed to confront the Israeli assailants when women inside the house screamed for help, but the policemen encircled the house to prevent them from approaching.

Fat'h revolutionary council member Dmitry Dliani said the policemen tried to expel the women from the house, but the women locked themselves inside three rooms of 11 and refused to leave the house, while the settlers seized the other rooms.

Dliani expressed fears that the settlers would turn the house into a religious school because of its large area and its sensitive location near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

With this new takeover raid on the house, the number of buildings seized by Israeli settlers in this neighborhood rose to five.

Police, settlers take over Jerusalem home

Published today (updated) 29/07/2010 14:32

Jerusalem – Ma’an –

Illegal Israeli settlers accompanied by the Israeli occupation government police took over a building in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem early Thursday morning, evicting families from three of the building's apartments.

Israeli National Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said two Jewish families entered the Old City home "based on documents claiming that they owned the property." He described the eviction as proceeding without incident.

After the families entered the homes, police requested the documents upon which the eviction was carried out, and according to Rosenfeld they were being "examined by police to determine whether they are accurate or not."

If the police deem the documents to be valid, he explained, they would be transferred to Israeli courts.

Fat'h official for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abdel Qader told Ma'an Radio on Thursday afternoon the the documents presented to police were fake. He said that the families who entered the homes were part of a Jewish group that lost a lawsuit in 1996, wherein they sought to take over the same home but failed to sufficiently prove ownership.

Palestinian defendants proved to an Israeli court that the home was owned by Kamal Handal and rented by Qarsh family, Abdel Qader said.

"This armed burglary is considered an attack on a Palestinian home and will not pass silently," he official added.

Evicted family members gathered at the home on Thursday afternoon, and were shortly thereafter joined by ten or more settlers, all hoping to gain access to the home. Israeli police stationed outside the building prevented both residents and settlers from entering, witnesses said.

The home, two stories with 11 small family apartments, is owned by the families of Suleiman Handal, rented by Kamal Qarsh and located in the Al-Sa'adiyah neighborhood near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Three of the apartments housed families, totaling 50 residents. It was not immediately clear how many were taken out of the home. According to Fatah Revolutionary Council Member Demitri Delani, many of the women and children refused to be evicted and remained in their homes with barricaded doors.

By noon, Rosenfeld said he believed there were no Palestinians in the home.

Delani said the settlers now occupy five homes, and he fears the building could be taken over as a settler Yeshiva explaining that the building was a school before 1967, after which it was converted into apartments.