On Wednesday, November 15 ,2017, an Israeli court issued a final ruling on the eviction of five Palestinian families from their homes located in Hush El-Helu in Aqabat El Saraya in Occupied Jerusalem on the claim that the houses belong to Jewish families.

A settlement organization called Tsdeiqit Rafi Ma'ir filed a sue in Israel Magistrate Court against the five families for eviction from their homes on grounds that they had proof of ownership of the property. The court issued its decision to evacuate the families even before the decision was appealed in the Central Court on May 25, 2017. The court ruled that the families should be evacuated by May 25, 2018

:The settlement organization filed the sue against the following families

Source : Field observation- Department of Monitoring Israeli Violations- Land Research Center-2017

Citizen Samah Abu Al-Hajj told Land Research Center the following:

" I was born in this residence, where my parent lived since they rented it in 1975 from Mr. Na'im Ghaith. My dad used to pay 120 JD as per rent to citizen Ghaith until he died. He then paid his heirs.

In 2013, we decided to renovate the house for the walls were cracked the house needed much restoration works. We were told that we need to get the approval of the property's heirs, which we did. At time of the restoration works, Israel Authority of Antiquities arrived at the location and ordered a halt on all works. Not only, a representative from the settlement organization Tsdeiqit Rafi Ma'ir said that we can't run any renovation works on the structure because it belongs to Israel Property Fund".

She also added:

" In the same year, the organization increased the rent but we refused to obey, which led them to sue us in Israeli courts. In the court, the organization gave up on the rent increase in lieu of us evacuating the structure.

The court ruled to evacuate us by no later than November 15, 2017. Attorney Mohammad Dahla submitted a plea to the central court, which delayed the eviction until May 25, 2018. We are now hopeless and have no place to go"

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project