Police Evict Sheikh Jarrah Family After Two-Day Standoff

Police evicted and arrested the members of the Mahmoud Salhia family before dawn on Wednesday, less than two days after they had threatened self-destruction over the pending loss of their East Yerushalayim home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Some 18 people were arrested during the evacuation on suspicion of violating a court order, violent fortification and disturbing public order.

The original standoff with police on Monday had ended with the demolition of the family’s plant nursery and two storage structures on the property.

Fearful that their home was the true target of the raid, the family had gone on the roof with gas canisters and threatened to set themselves on fire should the police approach.

The family descended from the roof only once the police had left. Officers returned around 3 a.m. Wednesday and removed the family from the home while it was still dark and demolished the stone structure.

Mahmoud, along with his sister Alma, are in the midst of a protracted legal battle with the city to save their two homes located on the property that the city confiscated close to four decades ago for public use.

The Yerushalayim municipality now plans to use the property for the construction of a school to serve Arab children with special needs.

The Salhia family has claimed that they purchased the property after they fled from the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Kerem during the 1948 War of Independence but had not yet registered it with the Jordanian authorities prior to the Six Day War in 1967.

Such registration was not possible once Israel liberated the city from Jordan after the war.

The Salhhia family is not the only claimant to the property. Another Palestinian also claims to own the land and has sought redress for the loss.

Court documents place the Salhia family at the site already in 1998, long before there were any plans for an Arab school at the site.

The Yerushalayim District Court had ruled in December that Mahmoud’s family could be evicted, but it had appealed the ruling in January. Alma’s case is still under adjudication and there is now a legal initiative to join both cases.

The city is expected to submit its opinion on the matter on Wednesday and the hearing is set for Sunday.

The police and the municipality issued a statement about the eviction.

“The evacuation of the area has been approved by all the courts, including the Jerusalem District Court,” it said, noting that there had been an evacuation order against the home already back in 2017.

“Members of the family living in the illegal buildings were given countless opportunities to hand over the land with consent, but unfortunately they refused to do so, even after meetings and repeated dialogue attempts by the Yerushalayim municipality,” it stated.

“The family’s illegal takeover of public space prevented hundreds of children with special needs from East Yerushalayim from receiving an educational service that the municipality seeks to provide,” it added.