Israeli police forcibly evict elderly Palestinian couple from home in occupied East Jerusalem

Early on Tuesday morning, the Israeli forces forcibly evicted Nora Ghaith, 68 and her husband Mustapha, 72, from their home in the old city in occupied East Jerusalem. 

"At 4:30 in the morning, the Israeli occupation forces surrounded the al-Khaldiya neighbourhood, then a large force stormed my parent's home and proceeded to evict them". Ahmad, Nora's eldest son, told The New Arab. 

"One hour after they evicted my parents, they allowed the settlers in", Ahmad added. 

Last month, an Israeli court rule allowed the police to evict the elderly Palestinian couple between 28 June and 13 July.

The eviction follows protracted legal battles first brought by Israel's custodian of absentee properties and later by Jewish settlers who claimed that the property in question belonged to a Jewish trust. 

According to Nora, her family rented the house in 1953 from Jordan when the Hashemite Kingdom controlled East Jerusalem and have lived there ever since.

These walls were her world, her life, her memories. Today, Nora (68) and Mustafa Sub Laban (73) were forcibly evicted from the home her parents rented in the Muslim Quarter in 1954. Forced evictions on occupied land must stop. All Palestinian civilians must be protected pic.twitter.com/GogZ587U2E

— Torunn Viste (@Tvistee) July 11, 2023

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.