Last week, High Court of Justice President Esther Hayut denied a petition from a Palestinian family in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of Yerushalayim, seeking another hearing regarding a decision compelling them to vacate their home, which has been proven to be a Jewish home. However, when the High Court rules against the political left, it prefers to carry on with its agenda and Peace Now activists were out in the streets on Friday, protesting against the renewed Jewish presence in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood.

The home in the predominately Arab area of the capital belongs to the Sabag family, and it was under Jewish ownership prior to the War of Independence in 1948.

The house in which the Sabag family lived in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of Jerusalem was Jewish-owned even before the War of Independence. In 2003, the Nachlat Shimon Company acquired the land from the Vaad Sephardim and the Vaad Ashkenazim, which were registered as owners of the land since the Ottoman period. With the evacuation of the illegal residents, a Jewish majority will take place in the neighborhood.

Since 2008, the family has been asked to leave the home since they are not the owners, but to no avail. The company has been in legal proceedings and litigation with the Prague family for more than a decade. Now, armed with the High Court of Justice ruling, the squatters will have to vacate towards permitting the Jewish residents to enter.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)