Abstract:
Tens of Palestinian refugee families face eviction from their homes in Jerusalem’s Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood after the claim that the land on which their house was built in 1956 belonged to Jewish owners prior to 1948. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim their properties within the 1967 occupied territories, but denies Palestinians the same right, despite the fact that, according to Israeli law, both Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem live under Israeli jurisdiction. By clearly exposing Israel’s apartheid policies, the struggle waged by this small Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood of twenty-eight houses could begin a new era in the Jerusalem front line of the Palestinian-Israel conflict.