Israeli court to conduct hearing on Palestinian families’ displacement in East Jerusalem
The Jerusalem District Court will today hear an appeal from two Palestinian families threatened with displacement from the Eastern Jerusalem area of Silwan.
Threatened with court-sanctioned expulsion from their homes by the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, the Ghaith and Abu Nab families are among 3,000 Palestinians facing eviction in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. Similarly, other Palestinian families from the same part of East Jerusalem have recently challenged an Israeli Supreme Court decision to permit them to remain in their homes, provided they recognize Israeli ownership.
Israel’s new pro-settlement prime minister, Naftali Bennett, sought to delay Monday’s Supreme Court hearing to ease recent pressure from the Biden administration over Israel’s settlement policies. Bennett, scheduled to meet with Biden in September, is under pressure to forge a more constructive relationship with Biden than his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli officials have asked the Biden administration to pressure the Palestinians to accept their proposal, hoping that the compromise will reduce international pressure on the possible eviction and associated settlement issues. The likelihood of extreme moves from Bennett and Biden is unlikely in the medium-term. The equal Left and Right bloc Israeli government guarantees no dramatic push for Israeli concessions nor a move toward annexation.
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