In Jerusalem, at dawn on Wednesday January 19, the Israeli police took everyone by surprise and evicted a Palestinian family from the ultra-sensitive neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The Salhiya family home was razed to the ground. The Israeli security forces had already tried earlier this week to demolish the house. But faced with the mobilization of anti-occupation activists and international diplomats, they had given up. In the end, the reprieve was short-lived.
With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sami Boukhelifa
The Israeli police burst in in the middle of the night. The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, located in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city annexed by the Jewish state, was quickly cordoned off. According to the Israeli police, during this night operation, 18 people were arrested. Among them, members of the Salhiya family.
Deportation warrant since 2017
On Monday, during the first eviction attempt, Mahmoud Salhiya and his children took refuge on the roof of their house. Armed with a gas canister and a can of gasoline, they threatened to blow everything up if they were forced to leave. The Salhiya family had been under an eviction order since 2017. The land on which their house stood, now reduced to ruins, was allocated for the construction of a school.
A mere pretext
In Cheikh Jarrah, Palestinian and Israeli human rights activists explain that this establishment could be built elsewhere in the city. According to them, this is a simple pretext for a forced displacement of the Palestinian populations. They call this act ” war crime “.
Last May, it was precisely attempts to evict Palestinians from this district, which notably contributed to triggering the conflict in Gaza.
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