٠٠:٠٣:٢٦Tensions ran high over an expropriated plot of land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, on Friday.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King joined Chaim Silberstein, a South African immigrant to Israel and the founder of the 'Keep Jerusalem' organisation to oversee the installation of a barbed wire fence around a plot of land Silberstein claims he owns. The land is however situated next to the household of a Palestinian family, Salem, who is facing eviction from their property and also claim ownership of the land.
Israeli police kept watch as men hired by Silberstein carried out the installations amid boiling tensions.
"Today, at 7:30, we were surprised to see 20 settlers storming our land, they began constructing a fence around it, my neighbour Karim came out of his house and called me, and they attacked him. We woke up in the morning and found them putting a fence around the land and they did not have a court order or anything else," stated Ibrahim Salem, the Palestinian owner of confiscated land and house threatened with eviction.
The Salem family who is facing eviction has been living in their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood since 1951.
Silberstein's Keep Jerusalem organisation has been working towards a 'united and secure Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.'
Nearly 300 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are currently under threat of eviction after Israeli courts rejected their claims to be allowed to stay in homes where they have lived for decades.
The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood has become a strong point of contention as Israeli and Palestinian locals have contested the ownership of properties in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood.
East Jerusalem: Tensions erupt over expropriated land in Sheikh Jarrah
Tensions ran high over an expropriated plot of land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, on Friday.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King joined Chaim Silberstein, a South African immigrant to Israel and the founder of the 'Keep Jerusalem' organisation to oversee the installation of a barbed wire fence around a plot of land Silberstein claims he owns. The land is however situated next to the household of a Palestinian family, Salem, who is facing eviction from their property and also claim ownership of the land.
Israeli police kept watch as men hired by Silberstein carried out the installations amid boiling tensions.
"Today, at 7:30, we were surprised to see 20 settlers storming our land, they began constructing a fence around it, my neighbour Karim came out of his house and called me, and they attacked him. We woke up in the morning and found them putting a fence around the land and they did not have a court order or anything else," stated Ibrahim Salem, the Palestinian owner of confiscated land and house threatened with eviction.
The Salem family who is facing eviction has been living in their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood since 1951.
Silberstein's Keep Jerusalem organisation has been working towards a 'united and secure Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.'
Nearly 300 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are currently under threat of eviction after Israeli courts rejected their claims to be allowed to stay in homes where they have lived for decades.
The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood has become a strong point of contention as Israeli and Palestinian locals have contested the ownership of properties in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood.
Tensions ran high over an expropriated plot of land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, on Friday.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King joined Chaim Silberstein, a South African immigrant to Israel and the founder of the 'Keep Jerusalem' organisation to oversee the installation of a barbed wire fence around a plot of land Silberstein claims he owns. The land is however situated next to the household of a Palestinian family, Salem, who is facing eviction from their property and also claim ownership of the land.
Israeli police kept watch as men hired by Silberstein carried out the installations amid boiling tensions.
"Today, at 7:30, we were surprised to see 20 settlers storming our land, they began constructing a fence around it, my neighbour Karim came out of his house and called me, and they attacked him. We woke up in the morning and found them putting a fence around the land and they did not have a court order or anything else," stated Ibrahim Salem, the Palestinian owner of confiscated land and house threatened with eviction.
The Salem family who is facing eviction has been living in their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood since 1951.
Silberstein's Keep Jerusalem organisation has been working towards a 'united and secure Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.'
Nearly 300 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah are currently under threat of eviction after Israeli courts rejected their claims to be allowed to stay in homes where they have lived for decades.
The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood has become a strong point of contention as Israeli and Palestinian locals have contested the ownership of properties in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood.