UN rights office condemns forced evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory expressed concern on Tuesday over the forced evictions of over 80 Palestinian families in the Silwan area of occupied East Jerusalem.

These evictions are “facilitated by the unlawful application of discriminatory Israeli laws against Palestinians in the occupied territory,” the office said in a statement.

Legal Proceedings

About 87 Palestinian families – nearly 680 individuals – face legal actions begun by “settlers” to remove them from their houses in Batn al-Hawa.

On 9 and 10 July, the Jerusalem District Court dismissed the appeals of the Gheith, Abu Nab, and Al-Rajabi families against eviction orders issued in lawsuits filed by Jewish Israeli settlers aiming to evict them from their homes.

The affected families reside in nine residential units which house over 80 Palestinians, including children, women, the elderly, and individuals with special needs.

Areas of concern

One particular area of concern involves the Shehadeh family, consisting of 15 people, including eight children, who face “escalating steps” toward their forced eviction.

This follows the Israeli High Court’s rejection of a petition against an 11 April 2024 Supreme Court decision that ordered the family to leave their four-story residence in Batn al-Hawa to make way for Jewish Israeli settlers.

On 14 July, the family received a notice demanding they vacate their home within 20 days, after which the settlers could enforce the eviction order.

“These cases are examples of an ongoing systematic settlers’ campaign and application of a range of laws discriminatorily,” the UN rights office said, “to uproot Palestinians from their homes, take over their property and implant Israeli settlers in the heart of Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.”

Furthermore, international humanitarian law forbids Israel from enforcing its legal system in occupied territories, which extends to using Israeli laws to evict Palestinians from their homes.

Additionally, the office declared that these laws are intrinsically discriminatory against Palestinians, breaching Israel’s international human rights commitments.