Palestinian family living the nightmare of eviction from its Jerusalem home
The ethnic-cleansing of Jerusalem: The Jewish National Fund (JNF) leading the drive to evict another Palestinian family out of their own home.
By Nadim Allawi
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) — Caught in the middle of an enclave of fanatic Jewish settlers, the Sumrin family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan is living the constant nightmare of eviction from the home it has lived in all its life.
For 28 years, the family has spared no legal effort to prevent its eviction from its home in order to turn it over to the settlers.
But the family today is facing imminent eviction after the Israeli Magistrate Court in Jerusalem ruled on September 23 that is has 90 days to evacuate the house on the pretext that the house is considered “absentee property”, which is a law passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in 1950 that allows the government to seize Palestinian land and property if the owner is deemed “absent” following the 1948 Nakba that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land. The law allows the so-called “custodian of absentee property”, which is an agency of the Israeli government, the right to take over and dispose in any way it sees fit of Palestinian property allegedly “abandoned” by its owners.
Ahmad Sumrin, 36, one of the owners of the house, told WAFA that the fight to keep their home started after the death of their great-grandfather Musa Abdullah Sumrin and when the government decided in 1983 to consider it owned by custodian of absentee property under the pretext Mousa Sumrin’s sons live in Jordan and he does not have any heirs living in Jerusalem.
“This is not true at all since we have been living here all the time and had never left it,” said Sumrin, who insisted that the family had not been informed of this decision and became only aware of it when in 1991 an Israeli company owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) filed a lawsuit in Israeli courts to evict the family under the pretext it owns the house. The custodian of absentee property had apparently turned over ownership of the house to the JNF.
“Since that time, the Israeli government and the settlers have not wasted a moment to harass us. They would break into our house to take measurements and terrorize the children,” he said, explaining that the house is built on a plot of land 800 square meters in area and is located in the middle of the so-called “City of David” enclave in Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan where the settlers are concentrated. The Sumrin house is surrounded by settlers, separated only by barbed wire and surveillance cameras.
He remembers when three years ago a settler decided to park his car in front of their house, claiming that the house was his, which led to a brawl between a member of the Sumrin family and the settler that ended in police arresting the Sumrin family member and a court forcing him to pay the settler around $9,000 after the settler filed a complaint against him claiming that he was assaulted.
The Sumrin family home has a total area of 350 square meters and consists of four apartments housing 15 people, all of whom are now under the threat of eviction and displacement.
Ahmad Awad Sumrin told WAFA that the court ordered the family to pay 50,000 Israeli shekels (app. $14,000) in rent for the last three years to be paid for the custodian of absentee property under the pretext the house was owned by the custodian. The family was originally told to pay two million shekels ($600,000).
He said that there are hundreds of Palestinian families living the threat of eviction from their homes and land in Silwan and elsewhere in occupied Jerusalem under various pretexts including being absent from their property or ownership to Jewish families decades ago and other excuses:
“The purpose behind is to get rid of the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem and turn it into a Jewish only city,” he said.
The Sumrin family meanwhile is not quitting the battle to keep its home. It is going to appeal the Magistrate Court’s ruling to the District Court.
