On Tuesday, September 24 at 9:30 AM, the Jerusalem Magistrate Court will hear the appeal against the Execution Office’s decision to carry out the eviction of the Sabbagh family in the Kerem Alja’oni section of Sheikh Jarrah. The Sabbagh family attorneys argue that the initial eviction ruling applied only to the building additions on their home and not to the original structure they have resided in since the 1950s.
At present, this is the only legal measure preventing the immediate displacement of this 32-member family, at risk of becoming refugees for a second time after first losing their home in Jaffa in 1948. According to the latest eviction demand handed to the Sabbagh family on March 31, the Execution Office had intended to carry out the eviction sometime between April 28-May 8. Following the submission of an appeal against the Execution Office’s decision, the Sabbagh family obtained a temporary court freeze on the eviction and a subsequent hearing scheduled for September.
If the Jerusalem Magistrate Court rules on behalf of the Execution Office on Tuesday, the Sabbagh family will be the tenth family in the eastern part of Sheikh Jarrah to have their home seized by settlers. Some thirty Palestinian families are under threat of eviction and at least eleven have open court cases in this area, while an estimated 35 families are at risk of eviction in Um Haroun, on the west side of Sheik Jarrah.
Click here for a joint Ir Amim-Peace Now overview [released in March] providing the historical and legal background on the Sabbagh family case, along with analysis of its broader political ramifications.
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