Settlers invade house in East Jerusalem

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family on Tuesday in a tense area of East Jerusalem, causing an 87-year-old woman to have a suspected heart attack and further underlining the discrimination faced by Palestinians in their prospective capital.

Up to 60 settlers arrived at the house of Rifqa Al Kurd at 9.30 on Wednesday morning, after the men of the household had left for work. The settlers, many of whom were armed with machine guns and pistols, were accompanied by a large group of police officers.

Rifqa Al Kurd, who is 87, told EAPPI that as they were taking over her son Nabil's house, one of the settlers pushed her over. She had a suspected heart attack and was taken to hospital. She is also nursing an injured arm. Later in the day, Israeli special forces arrived, giving further protection to the settlers. 

"They came and occupied the house and the police surrounded it to protect them," she told EAPPI after she returned home.

The house was built by Mrs Al Kurd's son Nabil as an extension to the original house built by the UN for the family after they were made refugees by Israeli forces in the war of 1948. Israeli courts recently ruled in favor of settler groups claiming Jewish ownership of the land, which has been unused for several years.

The settlers have been occupying the house since early November when they stormed it with police support and threw the furniture out into the garden. Read more here. The situation has been tense ever since.

"Three days ago we were sitting in the main house and the head (of the settlers) came and asked, 'whose furniture is this?'," said Mrs Al Kurd.

"It belonged to my son. They stole two gas cans and a freezer," she said.

Neighbours said the family were in court today to ask for the building to be demolished or the settlers evicted.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli police also destroyed a protest tent set up by the neighboring Ghawi family, opposite the home they were evicted from under similar circumstances in August (Read more here). evicted Palestinian family on a nearby pavement, opposite their former home which was taken by radical settlers in August.

"Around 100 police came at 8am, along with seven cars from the municipality," said Nasser Al Ghawi, who watched as the tent was demolished, apparently without due process. "They didn't give me any papers or a court order," he said.

Read more about today's events in the New York Times here. 

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