NEW EVICTION ORDER THREATENS PALESTINIAN HOME IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000161 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 TAGS: KWBG PHUM ASEC IS PBTS SUBJECT: NEW EVICTION ORDER THREATENS PALESTINIAN HOME IN EAST JERUSALEM REF: 08 JERUSALEM 2011 Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. An Israeli court issued an eviction order to an East Jerusalem family after a legal case that dates to ¶1998. The family has secured an extension of the eviction deadline and appealed to a higher court but fears that they will lose their home in the end. This house is close to 28 other Shaykh Jarrah homes that face a similar fate (reftel). End summary. PALESTINIAN FAMILY FEARS LOSING HOME IN LEGAL BATTLE -------------- ¶2. (C) Abdul Mati Abu Qataish told POLOFF January 20 that an Israeli court on December 31, 2008 ordered him and six family members to vacate their home in East Jerusalem's Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood. Abu Qataish said he purchased his home near the American Colony Hotel before the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. He said his home is not one of the 28 homes of contested ownership that were publicized by the eviction of the al-Kurd family in 2008, but he fears that all these homes face a similar fate. (Note: The Jordanian government moved 28 refugee families into Shaykh Jarrah housing in the 1950s, but failed to register land ownership to the families. End note.) APPEAL TO THE ISRAELI HIGH COURT BUYS FAMILY TIME TO FIGHT -------------- ¶3. (C) Members of the law firm representing the Abu Qataish family told POLOFF January 15 that they appealed to the Israeli High Court, postponing the eviction order from February 2009 to October 2009, by which time they hope to resolve ownership of the house and prevent eviction. They said Abu Qataish and his family have lived in their home for more than forty years. Ownership of the home has been challenged at least twice in the past 38 years, according to the law firm. A Jewish family first filed a case against Abu Qataish in 1971, and an eviction order was issued but never carried out, they said. In 1998, two Jewish families filed another case against Abu Qataish, presenting registration deeds showing ownership of the home. The current eviction order is a result of the 1998 case, Abu Qataish's lawyers said. WALLES