
Jerusalem24 – An Israeli human rights organization has warned of the Jewish National Fund’s attempt to seize about 2,500 dunams of land in East Jerusalem.
The left-wing “Ir Amim” association, which specializes in Jerusalem issues, said, “the board of directors of the Jewish National Fund will meet next week to discuss and approve a budget of 100 million shekels to take measures to register vast areas of land.”
They warned that the move is a, “precursor to thousands of potential eviction lawsuits against Palestinians currently living in the areas concerned.”
The Jewish National Fund claims that it owned land before 1948.
Ir Amim said: “The documents of the Jewish National Fund reveal that these lands include at least 2,500 dunams in East Jerusalem that are said to have been purchased before 1948. The lands allegedly purchased before 1948 are under the auspices of the Israeli Guardian General, and the fund can The Jewish National Claim is based on the discriminatory legislation of 1970 allowing the acquisition of property in East Jerusalem, inhabited mostly by Palestinians, based on the alleged pre-1948 Jewish ownership claim.”
They added, “there is no parallel legal procedure for the Palestinians who lost their land on the Israeli side of the Green Line in the 1948 war.”
They continued, “this is the same legislation that is the basis of the ongoing eviction demands against Palestinian communities in Sheikh Jarrah and Batn al-Hawa (Silwan) and families in the Old City and other parts of East Jerusalem.”
In recent years, the Jewish National Fund has been involved in eviction claims against Palestinian families living in homes claimed by the JNF. This was sometimes carried out with the complicity of settler organizations such as Elad, as in the case of the Somarin family in Silwan currently before the courts. “.
Ir Amim indicated that 75 Palestinian families on an area of 35 dunums are currently threatened with eviction from property claims filed by settler organizations in Sheikh Jarrah. As well as 85 families on an area of 5 dunums face a similar threat in Batn al-Hawa in Silwan.
They also warned that the transfer of 2,500 dunams of land from the General Guardian to the JNF will lay the groundwork for thousands of potential eviction requests, and called for an immediate halt to this decision.