Palestinian Authority condemns East Jerusalem evictions

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories - The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned the recent eviction of multiple families from their homes in East Jerusalem and urged the international community to take “firm measures” to halt the displacements.

Several families were removed from their homes in the neighbourhood of Silwan in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on March 25, AFP journalists saw.

Silwan has for decades been the target of a policy allowing Jews who lost property before the establishment of Israel in 1948 to reclaim it.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the evictions were the start of “a large wave of displacement affecting around 2,200 people” and were part of a policy aimed at “Judaising the neighbourhood”.

In a statement released late on March 27 by official news agency WAFA, the PA’s Foreign Ministry “condemned the escalation by Israeli occupation authorities of forced eviction measures”.

It said 15 families had been evicted from the hilltop neighbourhood south of Jerusalem’s Old City.

It also called on the international community to take “firm and more decisive steps to prevent the continuation of forced displacement against the Palestinian people”.

The Israeli authorities have evicted many Palestinian families from the area in recent years, while further families await the enforcement of eviction orders.

Hundreds of settlers, whose presence is illegal under international law, live among around 50,000 Palestinians in Silwan.

Their presence in the neighbourhood dates back to the 1980s.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967, later annexing it and declaring it part of its undivided capital, a move not recognised by the UN or most of the international community.

Palestinians aspire to make it the capital of a future Palestinian state. AFP