Four Palestinian families, with 30 members, including 10 children, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem are threatened with displacement and paying heavy fines.

The Central Court in occupied Jerusalem responded to their appeal and gave them until the beginning of next May to evacuate their homes.

The Jerusalemite Abd al-Fattah Iskafi, one of those affected by this evacuation, reported to Safa that "the decision issued by the Court, west of occupied Jerusalem, ordered the evacuation of 4 families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, namely Iskafi, al-Jauni, al-Qasim and the Kurd, although they have lived in the neighborhood since 1956."

According to the National Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, the District Court in occupied Jerusalem gave the Jerusalemite families until 5-2-2021 to evacuate their homes.

The Court issued the decision to evacuate the families on 10/20/2020 and imposed on each family a fine of 70,000 shekels, as the fees of the settlement association’s lawyer and court fees.

Iskafi pointed out that there are 72 families living in the neighborhood, about 600 people, all of whom live in a state of fear of eviction decisions.

"All the residents of the neighborhood are steadfast, despite all the pressures exerted against them," he added.

Moreover, Iskafi explained that about 20 settler families live in houses that were forcibly evacuated by the occupation authorities after Palestinian residents lived in them for decades.

Iskafi drew attention to the daily suffering of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood since settler families replaced the Jerusalemite families.

He said that the youth of the neighborhood was arrested many times, especially in 2008, because of the settlers, and many were deported from the neighborhood and paid fines.

He underlined that the "Nahalat Shimon" settlement company aims to deport the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, with the aim of building 240 settlement units.

He held the responsibility of evacuating the families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to UNRWA and the Jordanian Ministry of Public Works, because they are responsible for housing families in the neighborhood, according to an agreement between the two parties.

The National Coalition stated that in 1956, an agreement was reached between the Jordanian government represented by the Ministry of Construction and Development and UNRWA to provide housing for 28 refugee families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.