Protest Vigil in Jerusalem: No to Settler Takeover of Sub Laban Family Home

This past week, Israeli police sought to evict the Sub Leban family from their home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. In a building in which settlers have already taken over the rest of the apartments, the Sub Leban family is under immediate danger of eviction, as part of a broader policy of “Judaization” of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. This coming Sunday, March 22, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists alike- will go to support the Sub Leban family and protest against the planned eviction.

The activists will meet at 9:45 AM at the Damascus Gate and then walk together to the family’s home (on Maalot Khaldiyya street) to cry out against the eviction of families and against the “Judaization” of East Jerusalem.

Nora Sub Leban in her home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Nora Sub Leban in her home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. (Photo: Al Ittihad)

The Sub Leban family has been living in the home on Maalot Khaldiyya street for 65 years; for the past 35 years, they have led a legal struggle against attempted eviction. The family received the house – which was, in the past, owned by Jews – from the Jordanian government in 1950, with the status of Protected Tenants. In contrast to Palestinian refugees who left their properties on the other side of the Green Line, and have no way to reclaim them, Jews who left their properties on the Eastern side can demand in Israeli courts that their proprieties be returned.

A few years ago, the Israeli General Custodian transferred ownership of the Sub Leban family to a fund that works with the settler organization Ateret Cohanim, whose members claim that the Sub Leban family lost their status as Protected Tenants, and can thus be evicted. The family’s lawyer succeeded in obtaining a delay order that prevented the eviction last week, and in May the Israeli courts will hear the family’s petition against the eviction, but the order will expire on Sunday, and the danger of eviction is real then. There is hope that public pressure and the presence of activists can delay the eviction until the courts decision; activist presence on Sunday matters greatly.

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