At 1500hrs (1400 GMT) today, the Hannoun and Ghawi families were served an order to appear in the District Court of Jerusalem at 1630hrs. The settlers that had moved into the Hannoun and Ghawi homes filed a restraining order for the Hannoun and Ghawi families to stay 150 metres from the homes.
The settlers had seized the houses an hour after more than 200 armed Israeli police invaded the houses and threw the Hannouns and Ghawis out into the streets on August 2, 2009. Since then, the families have been camped out on the sidewalk across their stolen homes, sleeping on mattresses, without causing any disturbances to the Jewish settlers.
They are still holding out hope that justice will be restored and the houses which they have always lived in will be restored to them.
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East Jerusalem: the indignity and illegality of eviction
By: ISM
As our visit to the Middle East was ending, one of the most poignant encounters we had was with Maher Hanoun and his family in East Jerusalem. For several nights three generations of Hanouns have been sleeping in the street - the women and children in cars and the men encamped on the pavement. They were evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem on 2 August 2009 following an Israeli court ruling.
We brought the family food and drink for Iftar, a special time for Muslims during the month of Ramadan as it is the evening meal at which their daily fast is broken. The moment was rendered even more moving as we heard of the difficulties that the Hanouns have experienced since their eviction.
The family are refugees who have lived in their home in Sheik Jarrah since 1948. Now they have not only been evicted, but have watched Jewish families being shown the property and encouraged to move into a home that for generations they called their own.
These houses are situated in occupied East Jerusalem. The Palestinian families that lived in these buildings did so legally, and their presence is supported by international law. This is encapsulated in UN Security Council resolutions 446 and 478 which call upon Israel not to transfer members of its civilian population into occupied Arab territories or to change the character and status of Jerusalem.
To its discredit, the Israeli legal system - to which Palestinians have limited and unequal access - has been used by some settler groups to claim ownership of property purportedly belonging to Jews prior to 1948. The decisions taken by the Israeli courts have sustained the claims of settlers and offer Palestinians no recourse to reclaim their rights to lost land or property.
My fellow Elder Jimmy Carter was unambiguous in his statement that the eviction of Palestinians such as the Hanouns from East Jerusalem "is a political issue… It's an attempt by Israel to take over East Jerusalem, which is part of Palestine". I wholeheartedly agree, and was encouraged to know that several Israeli human rights groups and advocates also agree.
Such enforced evictions are utterly unacceptable; it is no exaggeration to state that this kind of action could be a serious obstacle to a successful negotiation of a two-state solution. The Hanoun family do not have fair and equal access to the Israeli legal system - nor are they the only ones to have been treated this way. The international community and all those in Israel and Palestine who believe in the importance of the rule of law should support their cause and speak out against this infringement of Palestinians' fundamental human rights. |
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 As refugees and people living under occupation, we are asking people to help us with our struggle for our rights. It is unbelievable that in the 21st century, Israel's authorities can get away with demolishing the homes of Palestinians in order to build settlements or national parks. The price we and our neighbours have to pay is too high, we are faced with two impossible choices - either we throw our kids out on the street or we go to prison. If we lose our homes, there is nowhere else for us to go, the only option we have is to live in tents.
International solidarity gives us more power and strength to continue in our struggle and stay in our homes. We need support from people around the world to let everybody know about our story and pressure their governments to help stop this racist policy of house evictions and demolitions.  By: Maher Hannoun, resident from Sheikh Jarrah facing imminent eviction and imprisonment
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