Sheikh Jarrah controversy

The Sheikh Jarrah controversy, which has been described as a "property/real estate dispute" by the Israeli government and its supporters,[1] and as an "expulsion", "displacement" or "ethnic cleansing" event and a matter of international law by Palestinians and their supporters,[2][3] is a long-running legal and political dispute between Palestinians and Israelis over the ownership of certain properties and housing units in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem.

[13] Many Palestinian families in East Jerusalem have been affected by "forced relocation processes or been involved in lengthy legal procedures to revoke an eviction order".

[17] The United Nations Human Rights Office has said that as Sheikh Jarrah is in East Jerusalem, which is considered occupied territory, international humanitarian law prohibits the confiscation of private property and evictions of Palestinian families could constitute war crimes.

[16]: 17-18 [19] The cave tomb of Simeon the Just (or Shimon HaTzadik) was traditionally thought to be the burial of a noted Jewish high priest.

According to scholarly consensus, based on an in situ inscription, it is actually the 2nd-century CE burial site of a Roman matron named Julia Sabina.

[20][21] In 1890 the cornerstone was laid for the construction of a neighborhood called Shimon HaTzadik in the portion belonging to the Sephardic community, east of Nablus Road.

[24] The Ashkenazi portion of the property south of the tomb remained open space, and in 1956, 28 housing units for Palestinian refugees were constructed there.

In West Jerusalem the overwhelming mass of the wealthy Palestinian community, some 28,000, of which only roughly 750 (mostly Greeks and Christians) were permitted to remain, fled or were expelled; and their property was ransacked, subsequently confiscated and distributed to Jews.

[33] In 2001, Israeli settlers moved into a sealed section of the al-Kurd family's house in the compound of Shimon HaTzadik and refused to leave, claiming the property was owned by Jews.

[36] The lawyers for the Palestinians produced documents from Istanbul's Ottoman archives purporting to show that the Jewish organization that claims to own the land only rented it, and as such was not the rightful owner.

[39] On 9 May 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court delayed the expected decision on evictions for 30 days, after an intervention from Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit.

[47][48][49][50] At a press briefing following the adjournment, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said "We have made this point before: Families should not be evicted from homes in which they have lived for decades.

"[51][52] On 2 August 2021, a number of Sheikh Jarrah families rejected a court proposal to stay as "protected tenants" but to recognize Israeli ownership and the hearing was adjourned.

[54] On 4 October 2021, the court presented a "detailed compromise proposal" intended to "end the threat of eviction for the foreseeable future".

The head of the European Union's mission to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, visited the family on 23 December and called the eviction "inhuman and unfair."

[58][59] According to WAFA, on January 21, 2022, a group of Israeli settlers led by King, under heavily armed police protection, re-installed barbed wires previously installed on 15 December, around the land as a prelude to the eviction.

[62][63] On 18 February the UN's Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine met the family and in a press release stated "The United Nations has repeatedly called for a halt to forced evictions and demolitions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem... under humanitarian law, forcible transfers of protected persons by the occupying power are forbidden regardless of their motive,".

[64][65] On 19 February, the foreign ministers of the Munich Group, at the Munich Security Conference, said "“We stress the need to refrain from all unilateral measures that undermine the Two-State Solution and the prospects of a just and lasting peace, in particular the building and expansion of settlements, the confiscation of land and the eviction of Palestinians from their homes, including in East Jerusalem, as well as from any acts of violence and incitement," and "In this context, we stress that the rights of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods with regard to their homes must be respected.".

Laura Wharton of the city council said "I protest, object and regret the conduct of the whole thing and expect the municipality and the government to begin treating every resident with equality and respect,".

Israel effectively annexed the territory and considers it part of its capital city, though this move has been rejected by the international community.

[74] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on Israel to stop all forced evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, saying that if carried out the expulsions of the Palestinians would violate Israel's responsibilities under international law which prohibit the transfer of civilians in to or out of occupied territory by the occupying power.

[77] On 16 February 2022, the speaker for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, stated: "It is very important to de-escalate the tension and maintain self-control and tranquillity.

Palestinian refugees who had been expelled or displaced from their homes in Jaffa and Haifa in the 1947–1949 Palestine war and their descendants were being housed in Sheikh Jarrah.

Corporate and legal records point to two important figures in the operation: a partner in the New York law firm, Braun & Goldberg, namely Seymour Braun as company director and Tzahi Mamo, an Ofra settler and realtor specializing in the purchase of West Bank properties and the eviction of their residents.