Israeli court delays expulsion of three Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah

The Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday delayed the eviction of three Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah area of occupied east Jerusalem, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The Dajjani, Hamad, and Dahoudi families were originally due to be forcibly expelled from the area next month.

They are among dozens of Palestinian families under threat of forced expulsion from Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers.

The area has seen dozens of protests and clashes between Israeli settlers and security forces and Palestinian residents and their supporters in the run-up to the forced expulsions.

The Israeli Supreme Court said that it would delay the eviction of the three families while hearing a petition against a previous Israeli Central Court judgement directing the Israeli government to expel the families from their homes by August 1, the families’ lawyer, Hosni Abu Hussein, told Anadolu.

Next Monday, the Central Court will hear a separate appeal filed by four other Palestinian families challenging a decision to expel them from their homes, Anadolu reported.

In 1956, under an UNRWA programme, Palestinian families who were forcibly displaced from their homes in what is now Israel were settled in Sheikh Jarrah.

Recently however, Israeli settler organisations have claimed ownership of their homes, using the highly dubious justification that Jews owned these properties before 1948.

Israeli courts have previously ruled in favour of the settlers as a result of this justification, which is vehemently denied by Palestinians.

This week ,Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he would not order more Palestinians to be expelled from Sheikh Jarrah, according to a source in his right-wing Yamina party.