Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah continue fight against Israeli eviction orders

Activists are arranging action on social media in support of families subject to expulsion order by Israeli authorities.

It added that Israel disrupted an anti-eviction demonstration by young people in the area on Wednesday evening, arresting one man.

The Iskafi, Al-Jaouni, Al-Kurd and Al-Qasim families have been told by an Israeli court to leave by early May, while three others, namely the Hammads, Al-Daoudis and Al-Dajanis, have until August.

The Al-Sabbagh family were also ordered out of their homes.

Though settlers and Israeli police have tried to intimidate the Palestinian families, they have insisted they will not obey orders to abandon their homes, Arabi21 reported.

Aref Hammad, who belongs to the Sheikh Jarrah Refugees Housing Units Committee, informed The New Arab: "We won't leave, even if we have to stay in tents."

"We won't go to the West Bank or anywhere because that's their [Israelis'] goal, they want to get all Palestinian Jerusalemites out so they can take over," he continued.

This process has widely been described as "Judaisation."

Read more: Sheikh Jarrah and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in East Jerusalem

The site added that a letter was sent on behalf of 28 Sheikh Jarrah families plus 191 concerned organisations to the International Criminal Court.

The group called for the forced displacement to be considered by the ICC as it probes alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"There's a land theft going on, and this is happening all around Palestine," explained Mohammed Al-Kurd, a poet brought up in the neighbourhood.

"The Israeli judicial system works in collusion with well-funded settler groups to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and displace them from their rightful homes, in complete defiance of international law," he said.

The families are now calling on Jordan to provide the relevant documents that would prove to Israeli courts the 28 homes earmarked for eviction were constructed and owned by Jordan.

Earlier in April, it was reported that Jordan's most senior diplomat had provided this proof to the Palestinian Authority.

Jordan says it constructed the houses for East Jerusalem refugees following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

This is not the first time Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah have been subject to eviction from their homes.

Four families were forced out from 2008 to 2009, while the Rifka Al-Kurds lost part of their home to settlers who have continually harassed them.

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