Attorney-General Mandelblit throws Sheikh Jarrah issue back to the court
Mandelblit's decision frees the High Court to decide whether or not to hear the appeal of the Palestinian families.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA JEW AND and Arab face off in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday.(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit has no intention of intervening in the High Court of Justice proceedings with respect to the pending eviction of four Palestinian families from the east Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, he said on Monday.The four families are awaiting a court decision over whether to accept their appeal of two lower court verdicts that they must leave their homes.The appeal proceedings were paused, however, to allow for Mandelblit to decide if he would weigh in on the proceedings.On Monday, his office said that Mandelblit had reviewed all the materials. "In view of the many legal proceedings conducted over the years in relation to the real estate at the center of the dispute, the attorney-general came to the general conclusion that there is no room for him to appear in the proceedings," his office stated.His statement frees the High Court to decide whether or not to hear the appeal.The four families are part of a group of 28 families who are in danger of eviction over a 50-year property dispute regarding the ownership of their homes. The Palestinian families originally lived within what is now sovereign Israel, in places such as west Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa, but fled to east Jerusalem during the 1948 War of Independence.In 1954 they struck a deal with the Jordanian government that ruled east Jerusalem at the time, that they would receive homes on land that had been owned by two Jewish companies prior to 1948, if they would give up their refugee status.Israel annexed east Jerusalem in the aftermath of the 1967 war and in 1972 the Jewish owners sought to reclaim the land, which is near the tomb of a high priest from the Second Temple period, Shimon Hatzadik.The Nahalat Shimon company now claims ownership of the property and wants to develop it for Jewish housing.The left-wing group Peace Now accused Mandelblit of shirking from his legal responsibilities by not intervening in the case."The decision of the Attorney General not to intervene in the dispossession of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah is an attempt to rid himself of his responsibility," Peace Now said.Peace Now has charged that the government supports the eviction of the Palestinian families, because it supports transforming the neighborhood into a Jewish one.Mandelblit's decision "shows that for the outgoing government, dispossessing hundreds of residents on the basis of discriminatory laws is acceptable," Peace Now said."Up till now Israel founded settlements on land taken from Palestinians but never since 1967 has Israel evicted in massive way Palestinian families from their homes, in order to replace them with settlers. This is a terrible wrong," it added.The pending eviction of the Sheikh Jarrah families has garnered international attention, including from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, all of whom have called on Israel to allow the families to remain in their houses.Hamas in Gaza has also cited the plight of the Sheikh Jarrah families as one of the reasons that it launched rockets at Israel last month.On Sunday police arrested prominent Sheikh Jarrah activists Muna al-Kurd and her twin brother Mohammed on suspicion of participating in riots. The two siblings were held for several hours and released.Muna is particular well known and has 1.2 million followers on Instagram. She also addressed the United Nations Security Council last month.On TikTok, Muna said of the arrests, "they took us to the interrogation center on Salah Eldin street and interrogated me twice. That was all just to scare us and threaten us. The judge's advisor is back on Tuesday and that's when the case will be decided."She added that, "this is the politics of muzzling, threatening and silencing us" and that she was not scared.Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.
