Palestinian families evicted

Fifty-three Palestinians were evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem to make room for Jewish families who claimed the houses belong to them. The Palestinian families had been living there for over 50 years.

The decision came from a ruling by Israel's Supreme Court. East Jerusalem was part of Palestine before Israel annexed it and started building Jewish settlements there. Although Israel thinks that East Jerusalem is their land, this is widely contested and not internationally recognized. So should the decision really have been made by Israel's Supreme Court?

This cleary is a legal issue in which families were exploited in order to push Israel's oppressive nationalist agenda. The families were evicted because of their religion, by the court of a government that sees one religion as superior to another. Argue with me if you will, but that's what aparteid is. It's about power and superiority. It's never about peace.

Riot police performed the evacuation and protesters were arrested. The families (including many children) are now homeless. Homeless because other families, whose religion is preferred by the country that stole this land, are given priority over the people who called those houses their homes and raised their families there.

It's hard to know who really owned the houses, but this brings into question squatters rights and what ownership actually means. I define ownership as belonging to whoever is using something and needs it. In this case, initial financial ownership was the justification for this move. So who really 'owns' the house, or deserves to live in it - someone who has lived there for 50 years and whose children were born in the house, or someone who hasn't lived there for 50 years?

Some details are missing, such as where the Jewish family was living before the move, and how long they have been fighting this court case for.

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20090802%2fpalestinians_evicted_090802

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8180743.stm