Israeli occupation authorities on Monday handed a Palestinian family an evict order, telling them to vacate their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Mahmoud Salhia was handed the order for the second time in four months, with the occupation authorities saying the seizure of his land was in the “public interest” to establish a school there.
The municipality gave the family until January 25 to implement the decision.
Salhia told the news site that his father bought the six dunum piece of land in 1967, adding that two years ago a decision was issued to seize the land.
The Israeli occupation has issued a decision to get the Palestinian Mahmoud Salhia displaced from his land in Sheikh Jarrah, on which his house is built, for the benefit of the occupation municipality, as he was given until January 25 next to implement the decision. pic.twitter.com/35B4oFM8B2
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) December 20, 2021
The two houses are inhabited by two families consisting of 12 members, including nine children.
“We came here after we were expelled by Israel in 1948 from the town of Ein Karem,” said Salhia.
The occupation issues order to evacuate the land of Jerusalemite Mahmoud Salhia in favor of the occupation municipality, giving him until the 25th of next January for implementation #israeliApartheid #WhyDoTheyAllHateUs
— Doom Metal Enjoyer (@RipWoY) December 20, 2021
Salhia pointed out that the occupation municipality offered him an extension for eight months to convince him to sign a paper according to which he would become a tenant of the house, but he refused.
He noted that the battle to keep his home has cost him about 600,000 shekels (around $190,000) in fines, the cost of filing cases and appointing lawyers.
🚨 #SaveSheikhJarrah #SaveJerusalem 🚨
As Israel escalates its settler colonial expansion, Palestinians are facing expulsion from their homeland. Israel could expel the Salem family in Sheikh Jarrah as soon as January, according to most recent reports.https://t.co/GWPV1LgksM
— #SaveSilwan #SaveSheikhJarrah USCPR (@USCPR_) December 20, 2021
“I was displaced once and will not be displaced again, and I will not sign any paper presented by the occupation…I will not leave my house, where I have lived since 1988,” he stressed.
More than 500 Palestinians living in 28 houses in the neighborhood are facing threats of forced expulsion at the hands of settlement associations backed by the Israeli government and its judiciary system, which recently issued a decision to displace seven families.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
