Palestinian family in Jerusalem's Silwan win Israeli Supreme Court battle to save home

The Israeli Supreme Court has struck down an attempt by settlers to expel a family from their home in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem - occupied by Israel in 1967 - ending a 30-year legal battle. 

The long-running case pitted the Sumreen family against a nearby settlement, which sought to expand by using Israel's racist 'absentee property' laws. 

The settlers who lost the case were backed by the Jewish National Fund, which regularly provides legal costs to anyone attempting to expel Palestinians from their homes. 

"We have to celebrate, but not let them promote the lie that Israel is a just democracy with a powerful legal system. It isn't," said Uri Agnon, a pro-Palestinian Israeli activist, after the ruling on Tuesday. 

BREAKING: Supreme court rules in favour of the Palestinian #Sumreen family - blocking settlers from displacing them and taking their home.

I literally can't believe that I am writing these words.
There is no justice in this system, but sometimes the struggle wins.#SaveSilwan pic.twitter.com/z6dorG7A85

— Uri Agnon (@UriAgnon) April 3, 2023

The Sumreen family home in Silwan was built by Musa Sumreen in the 1950s and has been inhabited ever since.  

As the ruling stands, the family has been allowed to remain in their home - but their ownership has still not been recognised. 

"This is still a deep injustice, but the fact that the family will stay in their home is a huge victory for the Sumreens, their supporters and Jerusalem," said Agnon. 

In 1948, Israel passed the absentee property law, allowing the state to confiscate land left behind by Palestinians who had fled or been expelled by Zionist militias in the run-up to Israel's creation.

In 1970, following Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem - which was under Jordanian control until 1967 - the Israeli parliament passed another law allowing Jews to reclaim properties lost during the 1948 war.

Palestinians - including Palestinian citizens of Israel - are unable to use this law to reclaim property taken over by Jewish Israelis.

Residents of Silwan have faced near-daily attempts at expulsion and displacement by settlers for decades - often using the discriminatory legislation. 

Across East Jerusalem, Palestinians are frequently denied building permits, facing a multitude of barriers if they try to acquire them.

Israeli authorities have confiscated roughly one-third of the Palestinian land occupied since 1967 to build settlements, despite them being considered illegal under international law.

More than 100,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are currently at risk of displacement, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.