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| Evictions in Walled Old City Stir Up a ‘Hornet’s Nest’ | |
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| JERUSALEM — The Palestinian residents of the Khaldiyya Ascent, a narrow cobblestone alley in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, have for decades lived in tiny, crammed apartments with high, moldy ceilings and peeling paint. Now, at least seven of these families face eviction threats by Jewish organizations reclaiming properties they owned before Israel was established in 1948. | JERUSALEM — The Palestinian residents of the Khaldiyya Ascent, a narrow cobblestone alley in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, have for decades lived in tiny, crammed apartments with high, moldy ceilings and peeling paint. Now, at least seven of these families face eviction threats by Jewish organizations reclaiming properties they owned before Israel was established in 1948. |
| Nazira Maswadi’s new landlord is trying to kick her out based on a claim that her estranged husband, Tawfiq, the original lessee, is dead. “He’s not dead,” she insisted. “He has 10 children with me. If he died, they would have to bury him.” | Nazira Maswadi’s new landlord is trying to kick her out based on a claim that her estranged husband, Tawfiq, the original lessee, is dead. “He’s not dead,” she insisted. “He has 10 children with me. If he died, they would have to bury him.” |
| Mr. Maswadi, reached by phone on Wednesday, confirmed he is alive, but acknowledged he now lives mostly with his third wife in the Shuafat refugee camp, which itself could threaten his family’s occupancy of the Old City apartment. | Mr. Maswadi, reached by phone on Wednesday, confirmed he is alive, but acknowledged he now lives mostly with his third wife in the Shuafat refugee camp, which itself could threaten his family’s occupancy of the Old City apartment. |
| The Palestinian families and their supporters claim the evictions, often based on seemingly arcane violations of their rental agreements, are part of a broader agenda to create Jewish enclaves inside the historic Muslim Quarter. Already, blue-and-white Israeli flags have been strung across some of Khaldiyya’s windows, marking the homes of Jewish families and a yeshiva. | The Palestinian families and their supporters claim the evictions, often based on seemingly arcane violations of their rental agreements, are part of a broader agenda to create Jewish enclaves inside the historic Muslim Quarter. Already, blue-and-white Israeli flags have been strung across some of Khaldiyya’s windows, marking the homes of Jewish families and a yeshiva. |
| The idea, Palestinian advocacy groups say, is to make it more difficult to ever divide the holy city along the lines of a longstanding United States proposal that would make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state. They accuse Jewish groups of trying to reorder residency patterns to bolster Israeli claims of sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, including the areas that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and later annexed. But Daniel Luria, the executive director of Ateret Cohanim, a group that helps settle Jews in predominantly Arab areas in and around the Old City, said that “it is the natural and historical right of Jews to live anywhere in Jerusalem.” Though Ateret Cohanim is not involved in these particular evictions, Mr. Luria argued that these rights are even more relevant for buildings that “happen to be in an area they were kicked out of because of pogroms and riots.” | The idea, Palestinian advocacy groups say, is to make it more difficult to ever divide the holy city along the lines of a longstanding United States proposal that would make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state. They accuse Jewish groups of trying to reorder residency patterns to bolster Israeli claims of sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, including the areas that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and later annexed. But Daniel Luria, the executive director of Ateret Cohanim, a group that helps settle Jews in predominantly Arab areas in and around the Old City, said that “it is the natural and historical right of Jews to live anywhere in Jerusalem.” Though Ateret Cohanim is not involved in these particular evictions, Mr. Luria argued that these rights are even more relevant for buildings that “happen to be in an area they were kicked out of because of pogroms and riots.” |
| The struggle over the Khaldiyya Ascent is intensifying after three months of increased tension and violence in Jerusalem and beyond, in which scores of Palestinians have attacked or tried to attack Israeli Jews with knives, guns and cars. This new outbreak was fueled in part by the battle over an Old City site revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Palestinians as the Noble Sanctuary, whose iconic Dome of the Rock shrine is visible from Khaldiyya, a short alleyway running uphill from the main road of the Muslim Quarter. | The struggle over the Khaldiyya Ascent is intensifying after three months of increased tension and violence in Jerusalem and beyond, in which scores of Palestinians have attacked or tried to attack Israeli Jews with knives, guns and cars. This new outbreak was fueled in part by the battle over an Old City site revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Palestinians as the Noble Sanctuary, whose iconic Dome of the Rock shrine is visible from Khaldiyya, a short alleyway running uphill from the main road of the Muslim Quarter. |
| Some Israeli Jews worry that the eviction efforts could open a Pandora’s box. Already, Palestinian advocates complain of a double standard: Jews can sue for complete restitution of their pre-1948 East Jerusalem properties. But Palestinians who lost West Jerusalem properties in the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment generally are eligible for compensation based only on the 1949 value of the home or land, and it is extremely difficult for those who fled or were forced out of villages throughout what became Israel to obtain any recompense. | Some Israeli Jews worry that the eviction efforts could open a Pandora’s box. Already, Palestinian advocates complain of a double standard: Jews can sue for complete restitution of their pre-1948 East Jerusalem properties. But Palestinians who lost West Jerusalem properties in the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment generally are eligible for compensation based only on the 1949 value of the home or land, and it is extremely difficult for those who fled or were forced out of villages throughout what became Israel to obtain any recompense. |
| The matter is further complicated because many Palestinians who may claim compensation, however minimal, will not do so because it would be seen as surrendering their claims to lands and properties that they hope will one day ease their return to what is now Israel. | The matter is further complicated because many Palestinians who may claim compensation, however minimal, will not do so because it would be seen as surrendering their claims to lands and properties that they hope will one day ease their return to what is now Israel. |
| “It is kicking the hornet’s nest of 1948,” said Daniel Seidemann, a leftist American-Israeli lawyer and expert on Jerusalem land issues. “Both peoples lost property,” he noted, and the eviction campaign sends the message that “what is ours is ours — and what is yours is ours, too.” | “It is kicking the hornet’s nest of 1948,” said Daniel Seidemann, a leftist American-Israeli lawyer and expert on Jerusalem land issues. “Both peoples lost property,” he noted, and the eviction campaign sends the message that “what is ours is ours — and what is yours is ours, too.” |
| The contested Old City buildings were administered by the Jordanian government, under a department called “the custodian of enemy property,” from 1948 to 1967, when they were transferred to the Israeli Justice Ministry. A 1970 Israeli law allows individuals or organizations that can prove pre-1948 ownership to reclaim the properties. | The contested Old City buildings were administered by the Jordanian government, under a department called “the custodian of enemy property,” from 1948 to 1967, when they were transferred to the Israeli Justice Ministry. A 1970 Israeli law allows individuals or organizations that can prove pre-1948 ownership to reclaim the properties. |
| Ir Amim, a group that promotes coexistence in Jerusalem, said 28,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Jews, half of them yeshiva students, live in the Muslim Quarter. | Ir Amim, a group that promotes coexistence in Jerusalem, said 28,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Jews, half of them yeshiva students, live in the Muslim Quarter. |
| The Israeli Justice Ministry declined to discuss the evictions, or even to say how many Old City addresses now occupied by Palestinians were once owned by Jews. Muhammad Dahleh, a lawyer for the Palestinian residents, estimated that there are 100 such contested properties; Ir Amim counted 15 pending eviction notices, including the seven on Khaldiyya Ascent, in the Old City alone. | The Israeli Justice Ministry declined to discuss the evictions, or even to say how many Old City addresses now occupied by Palestinians were once owned by Jews. Muhammad Dahleh, a lawyer for the Palestinian residents, estimated that there are 100 such contested properties; Ir Amim counted 15 pending eviction notices, including the seven on Khaldiyya Ascent, in the Old City alone. |
| The most famous case is that of Nora Sub Laban, 60, whose family has lived since at least the early 1950s in an apartment with arched ceilings atop a winding staircase in a charming Levantine building. For over four decades, she has fought multiple Israeli attempts to oust her from her perch, and her two sons who work for advocacy groups have in recent months rallied activists and diplomats to the cause. A Jewish trust reclaimed the property in 2010 and moved to evict Ms. Sub Laban, claiming that she had not continuously lived in the apartment and had installed an air conditioner without permission. Ms. Sub Laban said she had never left the apartment and had dismantled the air conditioner. | The most famous case is that of Nora Sub Laban, 60, whose family has lived since at least the early 1950s in an apartment with arched ceilings atop a winding staircase in a charming Levantine building. For over four decades, she has fought multiple Israeli attempts to oust her from her perch, and her two sons who work for advocacy groups have in recent months rallied activists and diplomats to the cause. A Jewish trust reclaimed the property in 2010 and moved to evict Ms. Sub Laban, claiming that she had not continuously lived in the apartment and had installed an air conditioner without permission. Ms. Sub Laban said she had never left the apartment and had dismantled the air conditioner. |
| The trust, known both as Kollel Galicia and the Trust of Shmuel Moshe Ben David Shlomo Gingel, did not respond to requests for comment. In November, the protracted legal battle reached the Israeli Supreme Court, which must now decide whether to consider Ms. Sub Laban’s appeal. | The trust, known both as Kollel Galicia and the Trust of Shmuel Moshe Ben David Shlomo Gingel, did not respond to requests for comment. In November, the protracted legal battle reached the Israeli Supreme Court, which must now decide whether to consider Ms. Sub Laban’s appeal. |
| Last month, four families living in small nooks in the squalid building facing Ms. Sub Laban’s got eviction notices, followed by two other residents of the Khaldiyya Ascent. Another neighbor, Hussein al-Qaissi, was removed Dec. 22 from the room where he lived. Ms. Maswadi, whose eviction is based on her husband’s supposed demise, shares her one-room apartment with a 35-year-old son, Rami, his wife and their six children, ages 3 months to 13 years. Suffering from diminished lung capacity, she spends her days under a red blanket on a thin couch, watching soap operas. She said that she had not left home in years other than to visit the hospital, and that to do so she needed one son to carry her down the narrow stairway and another to carry her oxygen filter. | Last month, four families living in small nooks in the squalid building facing Ms. Sub Laban’s got eviction notices, followed by two other residents of the Khaldiyya Ascent. Another neighbor, Hussein al-Qaissi, was removed Dec. 22 from the room where he lived. Ms. Maswadi, whose eviction is based on her husband’s supposed demise, shares her one-room apartment with a 35-year-old son, Rami, his wife and their six children, ages 3 months to 13 years. Suffering from diminished lung capacity, she spends her days under a red blanket on a thin couch, watching soap operas. She said that she had not left home in years other than to visit the hospital, and that to do so she needed one son to carry her down the narrow stairway and another to carry her oxygen filter. |
| “This is all I have,” she said, gesturing at the room crammed with couches used as beds and energetic children on school break, a closet dividing it. “Where will I go? Will I sit in the street?” Downstairs, Ms. Maswadi’s neighbor, Nawal Hashimeh, 63, swept her little corner of a courtyard that she shared with her neighbors, a blanket strung across it to maintain a modicum of privacy. She said she faced eviction because she had replaced the rusting front door. | “This is all I have,” she said, gesturing at the room crammed with couches used as beds and energetic children on school break, a closet dividing it. “Where will I go? Will I sit in the street?” Downstairs, Ms. Maswadi’s neighbor, Nawal Hashimeh, 63, swept her little corner of a courtyard that she shared with her neighbors, a blanket strung across it to maintain a modicum of privacy. She said she faced eviction because she had replaced the rusting front door. |