JERUSALEM (ISRAEL) – It would be a fate far worse than death if East Jerusalem resident Nabil al-Kurd is forced out of his residence.
Along with his wife and children, the 76-year-old is among dozens of Palestinians who are facing the threat of eviction from two districts of the city after an Israeli court ruling that their properties are built on land belonging to Jewish settlers.
“This is my motherland. All my memories are in this house,” he said. “I won’t leave unless it is to the cemetery.”
The ownership claims against him and other Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and Batan al-Hawa are a focal point of settler development plans in the city, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
Kurd was told to leave the property in October, within 30 days.
He has since appealed to the Jerusalem District court. But Hagit Ofran, project coordinator for Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, said there was little chance the ruling would be overturned.
When the court upheld several claims of settlers based on documents of the 19th and 20th centuries, it invited criticism from the EU whose representative in Jerusalem says at least 77 Palestinians risk being evicted.
The status of the holy city of the Jews, Christians and Muslims, is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Palestinians, their would-be state would have its capital in East Jerusalem while most countries consider settlements by Israel there as illegal.
Citing biblical and historical links to the region, Israel disputes those arguments.
Those facing eviction are refugees like Kurd or their descendants who settled in the area more than half a century ago, Peace Now said.
The group said in the case of Kurd, the settlers purchased the plot from two Jewish associations claiming to have bought it at the end of the 19th century.
According to Peace Now, some 14 families have been removed from Batan al-Hawa since 2015 and 16 from Sheikh Jarrah since the late 1990s.
During appeals, evictions are usually stayed. Some of the residents have appealed to the Supreme Court of Israel. However, Kurd’s family is not taking any chances.
“My family has prepared luggage of the important things we need so that if they come in any second, we will be ready,” said daughter Muna al-Kurd.
