Nadene Goldfoot
Jerusalem: It was, however, divided by the 1948 war that followed Israel's declaration of independence. As a result of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the city's western half came under Israeli control, while its eastern half, containing the famed Old City, fell under Jordanian control.
East Jerusalem (Arabic: القدس الشرقية, al-Quds ash-Sharqiya; Hebrew: מִזְרַח יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Mizraḥ Yerushalayim) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel.East Jerusalem includes the Old City, which is home to many sites of seminal religious importance for the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, including the Temple Mount / Al-Aqsa Mosque (Muslim), the Western Wall (Jewish), the Dome of the Rock (Muslim) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christian). In 2016, the population of East Jerusalem was 542,400, comprising 61% of Jerusalem's population. Of these, 327,700 (60.4%) were Arabs and 214,600 (39.6%) were Jews.
A ruling that Jewish families who owned property and land in East Jerusalem before 1948, could claim ownership over it after it was abandoned during the war of Independence is causing tears on both sides for Jews and for Palestinians.
Yonatan Yosef, the legal owner of the property said, the Salam family were squatters who rely on legal proceedings to live in the property for free without paying rent. “Just last year, we ignored threats and evicted a Palestinian family from a property in East Jerusalem. Threats were made, but nothing happened,” he said. In the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the Salam family, consisting of 11, is facing such an eviction. Last year, the family appealed to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court which ruled in their favor, and returned the case to the Enforcement and Collection Authority for further consideration. A decision is expected by March 9. If the authority decides in favor of the property owners, who would be Yonatan Yosef, the family will be evicted in the course of the month.
There are 7 other families living in Sheikh Jarrah and facing eviction, who appealed to the Supreme Court in 2021. Their case led to a broad public debate and was at the center of the May 2021 riots.In March of 2022, the Supreme Court partially accepted their appeal, froze the eviction orders, and gave them an opportunity to prove ownership of the properties with further deliberation set to take place at the end of March 2023.
The East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan is the latest property flashpoint in Israel. Located less than a mile from the Western Wall, outside the walls of the Old City, Silwan is sandwiched between the Old City and the Mount of Olives. Tensions have been escalating in the predominately Palestinian neighborhood over what Israel says are illegally constructed and occupied buildings. Another family, In the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem, 85 families totaling around 700 people are facing possible eviction. Among them is the 25-member Shhada family who reside in five houses. In November 2022, the Jerusalem District Court ordered the family to vacate their homes by March 1 following an appeal made by “Ateret Cohanim,” a right-wing group working to bolster Jewish settlement in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. 
Ateret Cohanim (Hebrew: עמותת עטרת כהנים lit., "Crown of the Priests"), also Ateret Yerushalayim, is an Israeli Jewish organization with a yeshiva located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It supports the creation of a Jewish majority in the Old City and in Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Notable alumni of the yeshiva include Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham and Rabbi Eyal Karim.
In response, the family appealed to the Supreme Court, and if their appeal would be rejected, they would also be evicted.
At the same time, In November 2022, the Jerusalem District Court ruled in favor of the eviction of the Sub-Laban family from their home in the Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City and ordered them to vacate by January 2023. The Supreme Court recently rejected the family's appeal, and their eviction could take place on March 15. The family purchased the house in 1954 when East Jerusalem was still under Jordanian rule. The family has fought against the eviction order with all legal means at their disposal.
Ir Amim (Hebrew: עיר עמים; "City of Peoples" or "City of Nations") is an Israeli activist non-profit founded in 2004 that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem. It seeks to ensure the "dignity and welfare of all its residents and that safeguards their holy places, as well as their historical and cultural heritages." 
Muslim quarter of Old City of Jerusalem
Yehudit Oppenheimer, head of the Ir Amim organization working to encourage Jewish-Arab pluralism in Jerusalem, said that six families would lose their homes. "Losing your home, beyond the economic damage, leads to emotional distress and is detrimental to the family and the community," the activist group said. "In the long run, the threat of eviction looms over entire communities in Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah, and the Old City, in which over 1,000 people are living, some of whom arrived in the area as refugees during the 1948 war, after being forced to leave their homes,” Ir Oppenheimer said. “They are at risk of losing their homes and their community, under a series of discriminatory laws passed by the Knesset,” she said. "Beyond the territorial conflict and the humanitarian tragedy, these evictions if implemented, serve to increase tensions in Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan and make the situation worse for everyone in the area."
I'm not an expert in Israeli law but know that it blew the mind of my American lawyer friend in 1981 who said they had laws on the books from very ancient days that were also followed. He couldn't handle it. It's a lot more complicated than any layperson, including the Ir Amim organization, can imagine. One would have to be a top-notch lawyer to understand it all.
Besides that, this all takes place during war, a war that forced Jews out by Haj Amin al-Husseini with his attacks, and the Palestinians being told to stay and take over Jewish homes by their leaders. Squatters have taken over. It's a sad state of affairs. Jews wanting to live in Muslim neighborhoods? No. But they do want the land back for other reasons. The issue is very complicated.
I'm also thinking of my own father's Jewish neighborhood in Portland, South Portland to be exact, that was destroyed in the take-over by the city and how everyone had to make different plans--without a fight or blood-letting.
2:25. (apropos for either Jew or Palestinian) "If all my property will eventually pass on to others, I should view my possessions as a Divine gift and perform lofty spiritual deeds with them while I am still alive."
It seems to be ill -planned in evicting people as far as holidays go, between Ramadan, Purim, Passover, etc. Note the author of Ecclesiastes. His life was full of trials, like ours is. His motto of life was vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Some say all is preordained, and that man should reconcile himself to oppression and injustice. The thought was that the author of Ecclesiastes was Kohelet, son of David, thought also to be Solomon himself. A law will be passed about the homes, but when it takes place should be thought out carefully.
Resource:
israel AM news:
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkx00007xk3?utm_source=email
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ir_Amim
https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/ir-amim/
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