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Israel evicts Palestinians to replace them with settlers

January 16, 2019 00:00:00


JERUSALEM, Jan 15 (Al Jazeera): Authorities hand eviction order to the Sabbagh family of 45 people, so Israeli settlers could move into their homes.

Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem - Huddled around an electric heater on a chilly winter day, four Palestinian women sit nervously, making calls to acquaintances to ask about homes for rent in the city.

"We can't leave it to the last minute. We have to figure it out - the Israelis can come at any time to evict us from our homes," says 31-year-old Ramziyeh Sabbagh. She is due to give birth to a baby girl in five days.

"My husband is in denial that we may be evicted," says Khadija Sabbagh, Ramziyeh's aunt. "I don't know what we're going to do. We only have God at this point."

Umm Alaa Skafi, who lives next door and whose family is also facing eviction, came over to check on her dear neighbour.

"Keep praying. Don't let your mind wonder. Keep yourself busy. I am here for you. I'll make a dish and bring it over for you and your family," Umm Alaa tells Khadija.

On January 12, Israeli authorities handed an eviction order to the Sabbagh family - numbering about 45 people - so Israeli settlers could move into their homes.

The five Sabbagh brothers, their wives, children and grandchildren were given until January 23 to leave their homes. The families have lived there since 1956.

They were forcibly displaced from their hometown of Jaffa during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba - the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias to create the state of Israel.

Having had relatives in the nearby neighbourhood of Wadi al-Joz, they settled in Jerusalem.


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