Monday, September 14^th 2020, the Israeli Occupation Civil Administration ordered the eviction of Izzat Salah (82) and his family from their house in Wad Al-Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan south Al-Aqsa mosque, in Favor of the Colonial Institution Elad (Ir David)[1], which is active inside Silwan and the Old City  of Jerusalem.

The Supreme Court refused the request to appeal filed by Salah , and gave the family a deadline in November 5^th 2020 to vacate the house.

The targeted structure is a small apartment 70 m² with outdoor utilities, the case started in 2015 when owner Aref Qarain asked the tenants (Salah Family) to evict the apartment, the owner managed to evict part of the structure in favor of Elad colonial institution in 2017.

Khaldoun Izzat Salah told LRC:

We live in this apartment since 1968, so we are protected under the Tenant Protection Law. However, few years ago The Magistrate’s court ordered us to vacate the apartment , but we requested an appeal to the Central court, the last refused and set April 10^th 2020 as a final date for the eviction.

We later filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which was rejected, the court set November 5^th as a final date for eviction, and ruled that Elad must pay 350,000 NIS as Compensation for the tenants, which does not compensate for Izzat Salah (82) who spent most of his life in this appartment , so the Salah Family rejected the compensation.”

Elad Foundation Works around Silwan and the Jerusalem Old city, its main objective is to bring as much as possible Jew residents to Silwan or what they call “The City of David” , the institution took over several residences in the old city of Jerusalem through illegal selling deals and provoked the occupation’s courts to order the eviction of many of its Palestinian residents , the institution’s aim is to strengthen Jewish Existence in Jerusalem and make them a majority.

[1] Ir David foundation : Known as El’ad , a radical right-wing foundation established  in 1986, Headed by an extremist colonist “David Barry”, who before the establishment of El’ad , worked for “Amidar” company - which is an Israeli governmental company that builds housing projects for settlers , and makes illegal purchasing deals with Palestinians.

Protecting marginalized communities in Jerusalem through legal support and advocacy

This report was prepared with EU funding, the contents of this document do not reflect positions of the European Union