Search

After 25-year legal battle, Israeli families enter home they purchased in eastern Jerusalem

Israelis on Wednesday entered a home in eastern Jerusalem 25 years after the building was legally acquired from its Arab owners.

By TPS

Israeli families entered their new home in Kfar Shiloach (Silwan) after an Israeli court rejected the final petitions on the legality of the purchase, and after police evicted the Arab inhabitants, who refused to leave the premises and ignored the court order.

The building was acquired from the previous owners over 25 years ago by the City of David Foundation, or Amutat Elad as it is known in Hebrew.

The Siyam family, which was finally evicted on Wednesday, continued to occupy the home despite the many petitions and a court ruling on the issue. The family did not rent the house from Elad, squatting for decades in the property and refusing to evacuate it after it was sold a quarter of a century ago.

The City of David Foundation is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the “preservation and development of the Biblical City of David and its environs,” which are nestled between Jerusalem’s Old City and Kfar Shiloach.