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Last update - 10:11 04/11/2009
UN chief to Israel: End 'provocative actions' in East Jerusalem
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Tags: Israeli settlers 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Israel to halt what he called "provocative" actions in East Jerusalem after another Palestinian family was evicted from its home.

"These actions stoke tensions, cause suffering and further undermine trust," said Ban in a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Ban called on Israel to "cease such provocative actions," and to implement its commitments under the Road Map peace plan by freezing all settlement activity, including natural growth; dismantling outposts; and reopening Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem.
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Rioting settlers on Tuesday forced a Palestinian family from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah out of its home, after the district court denied the residents' appeal to remain on the premises.

Shortly after the verdict was passed dozens of settlers stormed into the house with hired security guards, and demanded that the family vacate immediately.

A violent riot erupted between the settlers and the neighborhood's Palestinian residents, and police were called to disperse the protesters.

A legal battle has raged for some 30 years over the ownership of 28 houses in this neighborhood.

This particular house, built 10 years ago by the al-Kurd family, was unoccupied and locked for eight years by court order pending settlement of a land-ownership dispute.

Police kept members of the family back as a dozen Israeli men removed furniture.

"They can go to Syria, Iraq, Jordan. We are six million and they are billions," said Yehya Gureish, an Arabic-speaking Yemen-born Jew who said his family owned the land and had Ottoman Empire documentation to prove it.

"This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us," he said.

The home takeover was filmed by an activist from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, whose video includes some cursing and a brief scuffle, but no violence.

"I am Jerusalemite, a Palestinian. I didn't come from all over the world," said Rifqa al-Kurd, who had the house built 10 years ago for her married daughter.

The Palestinians who currently reside in the area were housed there as refugees by the United Nations after they fled western Jerusalem following the War of Independence in 1948.

During the 1970s, a committee of Sephardic Jews claimed ownership of the land, according to papers which proved that they had purchased it from the Turks before the war.

The committee had been active amongst the Jerusalem Jewish community for several hundred years in ownership claims over land in the area.

The court decided after long deliberation, that the Sephardic committee's claim to ownership is legal, but the Palestinian residents had also received a protected residency status which forced the Jews to keep them on as tenants.

Since then the committee filed several claims stating that the Palestinians had breached the lease with their new landlords, and demanded that they be evacuated from the premises.

Due to these recurring claims, several Palestinian families were evacuated from their homes and replaced by settler families.

The Sheikh Jarrah Palestinian residents said they fear that the settlers are strengthening the pressure to move them all out of town.

Two Palestinian families that were forced to leave their homes last August have been living out of protest in a tent on the town's sidewalks despite municipal pressure to remove the tents.


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      1.   Are not Jews entitled to live in their own properties in Jerusale 17:17  |  Kol Haam 03/11/09
      2.   ps. 18:02  |  Peter 03/11/09
      3.   #1 Kol Haam 18:42  |  Yonatan 03/11/09
      4.   kol haam 18:53  |  potobac 03/11/09
      5.   giving land to people 19:25  |  Ellen 03/11/09
      6.   Legal, but ethnically questionable tactics 19:59  |  David G 03/11/09
      7.   Will the courts also rule that those who have papers on land 20:15  |  Richard Pearce 03/11/09
      8.   illogical approach 20:42  |  tzivi 03/11/09
      9.   Can these Palestinians get their land back in West Jerusalemen? 21:05  |  JustMe 03/11/09
      10.   Just a few facts 21:21  |  Gee 03/11/09
      11.   #4 QUITE A LOT,POTOBAC 21:23  |  Ian 03/11/09
      12.   And what about Palestinians` rights 21:24  |  Cynic #2 03/11/09
      13.   unimaginable 21:34  |  stella westwell 03/11/09
      14.   I agree with David G 21:45  |  Akiva 03/11/09
      15.   Imagine if Palestinians in the WEST BANK.... 21:46  |  ramin 03/11/09
      16.   Do you think that God is a real estate agent? And why would God g 21:47  |  tim 03/11/09
      17.   Stella ... please read the artcile. Who OWNS the property? JEWS ! 21:50  |  GZLives 03/11/09
      18.   International News? 21:58  |  Nick 03/11/09
      19.   8 Tzivi and rampant colonialism 22:36  |  r cummings 03/11/09
      20.   Oh, Stella, how about some common sense? 22:37  |  SDHD 03/11/09
      21.   Don`t these settlers in the photograph 22:45  |  r cummings 03/11/09
      22.   #4 Potobac 23:11  |  Malach HaMavet 03/11/09
      23.   Where is PSM---he usually has a commnet on Rioting Arabs 23:17  |  Angus Mc Gee 03/11/09
      24.   #9 stella westwell 23:22  |  *BEN JABO 03/11/09
      25.   Because SDHD-they are Israelis---and Israeli law s 23:22  |  Labhras 03/11/09
      26.   #12 r. cummings 23:37  |  *BEN JABO 03/11/09
      27.   cummings and idiocy about colonialism 23:54  |  SDHD 03/11/09
      28.   cummings likes nice photos 23:55  |  SDHD 03/11/09
      29.   #9 r cummings LEARN THE TRUTH 23:59  |  David Factual 03/11/09
      30.   When ultra leftist court says NO there must be a damn good reason 00:10  |  Jamil 04/11/09
      31.   If G-d promised this land to the Jews ... 00:30  |  Mark 04/11/09
      32.   Kol Haam: not if you have already taken their houses once 00:42  |  Shelley 04/11/09
      33.   I am surprised how people profoundly ignorant 00:51  |  Mark Bernadiner 04/11/09
      34.   Speaking of arrogance and impunity 02:16  |  Eyneni 04/11/09
      35.   cummings what are u saying 02:21  |  shmuel Hanavi 04/11/09
      36.   ellen Give US back to Indians 02:27  |  schmulik the truth t 04/11/09
      37.   Misleading Title 02:37  |  Sam! 04/11/09
      38.   whats the problem? 02:55  |  sam 04/11/09
      39.   #13 Sam...Not so cut and dry 04:02  |  mary 04/11/09
      40.   Kol Haam - Israeli citizens 04:31  |  CJ 04/11/09
      41.   David G - un-named but you know who they are? 04:37  |  CJ 04/11/09
      42.   to #1 #11 so if we talking about the right 04:57  |  asi 04/11/09
      43.   thank you stella 05:17  |  edgar 04/11/09
      44.   Provocative ?? 05:36  |  Ron 04/11/09
      45.   It is legal, and yet there are smoother ways to enact the law. 05:46  |  Fortuna Benmayor 04/11/09
      46.   west Jerusalem 07:01  |  Jochai Rubinstein 04/11/09
      47.   Embarrasing for other Israeli`s and Jews? 07:09  |  Palestinian Brit 04/11/09
      48.   Embarrasing for other Israeli`s and Jews? 07:09  |  Palestinian Brit 04/11/09
      49.   #16 Mary`s facts screwed up 07:30  |  schmulik the truth t 04/11/09
      50.   Jerusalem has always been the symbol of Jewish unity. 09:06  |  B. Gold 04/11/09
      51.   Israel and God 10:48  |  guest 04/11/09
      52.   To B Gold 50. 11:15  |  Amir Mohamed 04/11/09
      53.   #45Smoother Ways 11:23  |  Yehudit 04/11/09
      54.   To the UN 12:55  |  Rab Burns 04/11/09
      55.   .Renting in Katamon 12:59  |  Daniel 04/11/09
      56.   facts 13:25  |  Carol Scheller 04/11/09
      57.   MOON HAS EXTRA JUDICIARY POWERS 14:23  |  vhardman 04/11/09
      58.   Frankly, I could think of better places to chep 14:46  |  Zev Davis 04/11/09
      59.   Mark Bernadiner # 33 please explain 15:17  |  ANY 04/11/09
      60.   a Mini Krystalnacht 15:32  |  Joe 04/11/09
      61.   Well, If You Havre God On Your Side.... 15:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/11/09
      62.   Wasting time and breath 16:00  |  Mark Lincoln 04/11/09
      63.   tzivi# 8 16:10  |  gaby 04/11/09
      64.   Where is the justice? 16:12  |  Nechama 04/11/09
      65.   Nechama Pontificates on Justice 16:29  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/11/09
      66.   Amir Mohammed, there is absolutely no evidence 16:41  |  jj 04/11/09
      67.   to Amir Mohammed 2 16:48  |  jj 04/11/09
      68.   # 60 Joe has a point here, when Israel is committing "evil"..... 17:13  |  Swiss (Dino) 04/11/09
      69.   Arab have the right to breach contracts , not to 17:25  |  TOMY 04/11/09
      70.   #49 Palestinian Brat - Are you saying 17:46  |  *BEN JABO 04/11/09
      71.   #68 Swiss (Dino) 17:51  |  *BEN JABO 04/11/09
      72.   # 71 That`s okay, BEN JABO, if by tomorrow.... 18:42  |  Swiss (Dino) 04/11/09
      73.   East Jerusalem is JEWISH! Ignoramus 18:49  |  Dwido 04/11/09
      74.   AssTrisks Ben Jibberish # 26 re r cummings 19:03  |  ANY 04/11/09
      75.   #70 Ben Jabo. Let`s look at just what British law has allowed... 19:03  |  Maureen Ann 04/11/09
      76.   #54 To Rab Burns 19:18  |  Maureen Ann 04/11/09
      77.   BEN JABOO AND HIS COHORTS 19:24  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/11/09
      78.   Joe in London on the Slow Process 19:26  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/11/09
      79.   Al Kurd means the Kurd 19:40  |  Rustam 04/11/09
      80.   `provocative actions` 20:54  |  Gee 04/11/09
      81.   What`;s good for the goose should be good for the gandr 21:42  |  David 04/11/09
      82.   # 64 Nechama -Israeli law took a page from Kafka 21:50  |  David 04/11/09
      83.   # 65 Yaakov Sullivan 21:54  |  David 04/11/09
      84.   If God gets to decide then, may the best god win. 22:05  |  ANY 04/11/09
      85.   jj - read the evidence 00:33  |  Amir Mohamed 05/11/09
      86.   God vs. Guns - ANY 02:40  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      87.   No nation has recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem 02:48  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/09
      88.   #72 Swiss (Dino) 03:38  |  *BEN JABO 05/11/09
      89.   #12-2 r. cummings 04:16  |  *BEN JABO 05/11/09
      90.   #74 I see you still have loose marbles problems 04:23  |  *BEN JABO 05/11/09
      91.   #62 ANY - No matter what God decides 04:24  |  *BEN JABO 05/11/09
      92.   Iran is supplying Hizballah and Hamas with weapons of mass murder 05:12  |  Eitan 05/11/09
      93.   Jerusalem the Capitol of Israel 06:21  |  Jim 05/11/09
      94.   Provocative? Illegal! 07:57  |  John 05/11/09
      95.   Sure Jews are allowed to live in East Jerusalem 07:59  |  John 05/11/09
      96.   Kol Haam 09:17  |  jake 1948 05/11/09
      97.   Jerusalem, the illegal capital of Israel #93 Jim 22:59  |  Ron 06/11/09
      98.   Palestinians descend from tribes of Canaan #66#67 JJ 00:28  |  Ron 07/11/09
      99.   #95 John - Netherlands 22:11  |  *BEN JABO 07/11/09
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