Love of the Land: Justice in Sheikh Jarrah

Justice in Sheikh Jarrah

Right has learned to use legal system wisely to restore Jewish property

Yair Gabai
Opinion/Ynet
31 December 09

Fortunately, I have never heard of a case in which the State of Israel prevented an Arab in possession of land or a house in west Jerusalem from living in his home or legally building on his land for purely racist reasons. Recently, left-wing organizations have been seeking to impose an apartheid rule in Jerusalem. In other words, in the west each person has the right to fulfill the ownership right, while in the east – this right is only given to Arabs. In order to prevent Jews with assets in the eastern part of the city from fulfilling their ownership, they recruit foreign countries and market fabrications about "poor Arabs who have been expelled from their homes by settler thugs."

The houses in Simeon the Just neighborhood, which Jews entered with a court order, are located on a piece of land measuring 4.5 acres, which was purchased by the Sephardic Community Committee and the Ashkenazi Committee (Knesset Israel) in 1876. In 1936 the neighborhood included houses, synagogues and charity institutions. This land is soaked with the blood of Jews, and nearby is a monument commemorating the 78 doctors and staff members massacred on their way to Mount Scopus. From the moment the neighborhood was established, Jerusalem's Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini began leading acts of harassment against the neighborhood's residents. Some of us may have forgotten that the mufti was the first person to issue a fatwa (death sentence) against an Arab selling land to a Jew.

Related Background Article: The Sheikh Jarrah-Shimon HaTzadik Neighborhood

Unfortunately, upon the declaration of the State's establishment in 1948, following riots, bombardments and unstoppable attacks, the Jews were forced to abandon their houses in this neighborhood, and had the Arab rioters not lost in the War of Independence they would have also cleansed Rehavia and Talbiyeh of Jews. After the War of Independence, these houses were turned over to the possession of the Jordanian in charge of the enemy's assets who rented them out to the Arab families which have been living in them up to now. The private ownership of these assets has never been expropriated, and the proceedings to return the Jewish property to its rightful owner began after the Six Day War, when the neighborhood was re-liberated by IDF forces.

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Attorney Yair Gabai is a Jerusalem council member

Love of the Land: Justice in Sheikh Jarrah