By Umamah Bhakaria
10:11:2021

Sheikh Jarrah residents reject Israeli compromise to pay rent to settler groups. 

Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, have rejected an Israeli court order to provide them with a ‘protected residence’ status if they [Palestinians] pay rent to settler organizations that claim their homes are built. Otherwise, their homes will be demolished. 

Mohammed El-Kurd, activist and resident of Sheikh Jarrah, tweeted: “The people of Sheikh Jarrah rejected the settlement proposal.” He adds: “such ‘deals’ distract from the crime at hand: ethnic cleansing and perpetrated by a settler-colonial judiciary and its settlers.”

“So this idea of finding a temporary agreement and that it will deal with issues a long time in the future is pretty much the same as the so-called “peace process” where you agree to certain principles, and the final step will be dealt with.” Says Hafiz Ebrahim. 

The Israeli court has still not ruled after Palestinian families’ refused to pay rent to settlers. They could face eviction or demolition of their homes forcibly.

Israeli forces demolish mosque in the West Bank 

Israel’s occupation forces have demolished a mosque in the town of Duma, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. 

According to witnesses, Israeli forces led a bulldozer into the town and demolished the mosque to the ground. The mosque was built two years ago on land owned by the residents of Duma.

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs said a mosque demolition is a clear act of aggression against Muslim holy sites.

The argument for the demolition of the mosques was that the mosque was built without a permit. However, Israeli’s have continued to build on land that is illegally obtained. 

“This is part of what happens daily in terms of house demolitions which does not solicit any international outcry, and this is also an example of Israel’s wrong track of crimes against religious rights both Muslim and Christian in occupied territories,” says Hafiz Ebrahim. 

100 years later, a Palestinian family hands over Turkey Ottomans soldier’s money 

During World War I, an Ottoman soldier entrusted a Palestinian man with a large sum of money, but never returned for it after the war.

In a ceremony in Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank, the Al Aloul family presented the money to Turkey’s Consul General Ahmet Riza Demirer. 

Raghib Helmi Al Aloul said the Ottoman soldier’s money was entrusted to his uncle Omar Al Aloul.

“He gave it to my uncle, and until this day, the money remained with us. We don’t know if the Turkish soldier died in the war or died afterwards. And we don’t know his name as my uncle forgot it”.

Al Aloul says the money amounts to 152 Ottoman liras, which had a value of $30,000 at the time. The money was kept in an iron safe deposit box inside the family factory.

“This exhibits the beauty of faith, of brotherhood and the beauty of trustworthiness despite the passage of time,” says Hafiz Ebrahim.

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