Israeli settlers briefly seize Palestinian family home in Jerusalem's Old City

A group of Jewish Israeli settlers attempted to seize a house belonging to a Palestinian family in occupied East Jerusalem at dawn on Tuesday.

Israeli forces backed the settlers as they tried to take over the Idris family home in the Al-Qarmi neighbourhood in Jerusalem’s Old City.

After storming the house, the settlers replaced the doors and placed iron bars on the windows and the roof.

Members of the Idris family confronted the settlers when they arrived at their home.

Muhammad Idris told The New Arab’s sister site in an interview that the house has belonged to the family since 1979 and they have documents to prove this. He said his mother and sister currently live there.

The settlers broke into the house after the mother was taken to hospital 10 days ago, Idris told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israeli police later came and escorted the settlers out of the house, Idris added. The family were first asked by authorities to head to the police station to file a complaint and prove ownership of the residency.

Following Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, settler groups - backed by the Israeli government - have launched a relentless campaign to "reclaim" Jewish properties "lost" during the war. Many of these claims are false, Palestinian activists say.

Under Israeli law, Jews can reclaim properties lost during the conflict, while Palestinians can't.

In 1970, the Israeli parliament passed "the Legal and Administrative Matters Law", allowing Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem transferred to the control of the Jordanians in 1948 to be seized.

The law was not extended to Palestinian landowners who lost properties in the same war in West Jerusalem.