Settlers force Palestinians out of East Jerusalem home

Rioting settlers forced a Palestinian family out of their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah yesterday, 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, demanding that the family vacate immediately. A violent riot erupted between the Jewish settlers and the neighborhood's Palestinian residents. Police were called in to disperse the protesters.

A legal battle has raged for some 30 years over the ownership of 28 houses in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The specific house in question, built 10 years ago by the al-Kurd family, was unoccupied and locked up for eight years by court order pending the settlement of a land-ownership dispute.

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

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

"I am a Jerusalemite, a Palestinian. I didn't come from [somewhere else in] 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 UN following the War of Independence in 1948.