Appalling Israeli Injustice

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

The Shamasna family is like many others in Occupied Palestine - having the misfortune of living in a home on land Israel wants exclusively for Jews.

The outcome is always the same - eviction no matter how unjust, illegal and outrageous.

Ayoub and Fahima Shamasna lived in their home for 53 years, raising their eight children in the same dwelling. 

It's their's, no one else's. Not in Israel by a regime wanting Palestinian property for Jewish development and use.

After a long legal struggle, nearly always futile for Palestinians, the Shamasnas were evicted from their East Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood home on Tuesday.

He's 84, wheelchair bound. She's 75, both with health issues, aggravated by their ordeal. Straightaway after their eviction, settlers moved in. Israeli courts ruled their property belonged to Jews prior to 1948.

A racist law lets them take over what belongs to Palestinians. No similar law grants them equal rights - nor are Palestinian owners of West Bank property allowed to reclaim it, the way ruthless apartheid works. 

The Shamasnas were the first Palestinian family evicted from Sheikh Jarrah since 2009. Extremist settlers began claiming ownership of Palestinian homes in the community at that time.

Evictions in Occupied Palestine are elaborate affairs. Large numbers of police, other security forces, and intelligence officers stormed the Shamasnas home - forcibly removing them before their furnishings and other belongings were moved into a truck.

Streets and entrances to the area were blocked, neighbors and journalists kept away.

Ayoub said an Israeli magistrate court, district court, and high court all ruled against them, claiming their home since 1964 belonged to Jews.

The PLO, Arab Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi and others denounced Israel's action on social media. In 2009, other Palestinian families were evicted from their Sheikh Jarrah homes the same way.

In response to the Shamasnas eviction, Peace Now issued a statement saying:

"The settlers, with the backing of the government, are utilizing a discriminatory law in order to change the status quo and Israelize Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem." 

"The eviction of the Shamasna family, who resided in the house since 1964, is not only brutal but it is also indicating a dangerous trend that could threaten a future compromise in Jerusalem."

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said "(i)t is a matter of deep concern that Palestine refugees who have already endured multiple displacements should be subject to the humiliation of the kind inflicted by forced evictions."

UN officials talk but don't responsibly act to protect Palestinian rights, making them complicit with Israeli lawlessness.

Sheikh Jarrah was a 19th century Jewish community. Claiming Jews are entitled to claim property belonging to Palestinians today turns justice on its head.

Last Sunday, six more Palestinian families got eviction notices to vacate their Sheikh Jarrah homes - ordered out in 30 days or be forcibly removed because settlers claim what's rightfully theirs.

Fourth Geneva prohibits the transfer and displacement of protected persons from occupied territory.

Families like the Shamasnas are evicted from their homes anyway. "What greater injustice is there than this," said Fahima - what's most precious to her and husband Ayoub gone, besides their children.

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