Palestinian family to keep Jerusalem home, for now

By Anees Barghouti

JERUSALEM

Israel’s High Court has allowed a Palestinian family to live temporarily in their East Jerusalem home before it is handed over to Israeli settlers.

In a ruling issued late Tuesday, the court said the family would be permitted to remain in their home in Jerusalem’s Old City for a ten-year period before settlers would be allowed to take possession of it.

According to the ruling, however, only Mustafa Sub Laban and his wife -- and not any of their children -- will be allowed to reside in the building.

The family first began renting the building from the Jordanian authorities in 1953. Since then, they have continued to live there.

Israeli settlers, however, have continued to call for the family’s eviction, arguing that the property had been abandoned.

The Sub Laban family has been resisting eviction since 2010, when the Israeli government formally ceded the property to the Kollel Galicia Trust, a private settler group.

"This court decision will allow us to reside in the house for another ten years," the family said in a statement.

"Afterwards, however, we will have to vacate the property, which will then be handed over to settler groups," they explained.

Tuesday’s court decision, however, does not apply to a small storage room located under the building, which can now be appropriated by Israeli settlers.

Sub Laban’s wife, Nora Gaith, said the court had vindicated the settlers’ claim that the house had been abandoned, issuing a decision that would effectively break up her family.

"[The court verdict] will separate me from my unmarried children and grandchildren," she lamented.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 180 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem now face the threat of eviction.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, during the 1967 Middle East War. It formally annexed the city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.