U.S. Summons Israeli Ambassador Again
Aaron Klein
 Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren |
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman summoned Ambassador Michael Oren with a message that the Obama administration views the eviction Sunday of two Palestinian families from homes in eastern Jerusalem as "provocative" and "unacceptable."
In the case, Israel last week enforced its own property law in Jerusalem by evicting Arabs from a Jewish housing complex they purportedly had been illegally occupying for almost a century.
Oren reportedly responded today by explaining that the housing complex in question has been Jewish-owned since before Israel's founding in 1948. Oren explained a court ordered the families' eviction since they had been living there illegally.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday also denounced the evictions, calling them "deeply regrettable" during a joint press conference in Washington with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
Much of the U.S. and international media the past few days have been reporting on Israel's eviction of Arab families from a house in eastern Jerusalem.
The housing complex is located in the Sheik Jarra neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem. The home was originally Jewish, but its Jewish occupants were chased out during countrywide anti-Jewish Arab riots in 1929. Arabs then squatted on the property, with one family, the Hejazi family, becoming the de facto occupants despite never having purchased the property.
Even though documentation shows the complex is owned by Jews and that Arabs have been squatting on it illegally for almost a century, Jewish groups say they still legally re-purchased the property from the Hejazi family.
Following pressure from the Palestinian Authority, however, the family later denied selling the complex back to the Jews despite documentation and other evidence showing the sale went through.
The PA in April warned Palestinians against selling their homes or properties to Jews, saying those who violate the order would be accused of "high treason" – a charge that carries the death penalty.
Israel's court system twice ruled the property belongs to Jews.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office earlier this week released a statement to WND objecting to U.S. condemnation of the Israeli government for enforcing property law in Jerusalem.
"The eviction in Jerusalem was a result of a ruling by our Supreme Court that had to decide in a dispute between two parties over the legal control of a property," Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, told WND.
Continued Regev: "The Supreme Court ruled for one side and not the other. In all democracies the rulings of the courts must be upheld, and it is incumbent on the executive branch to implement such decisions."
Regev said the Israeli Supreme Court "is renowned internationally for both its independence and its professionalism. There are countless examples of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Palestinians in land disputes."
Today marked the second time the past three weeks Israel's ambassador has been summoned by Washington to protest Israeli conduct in eastern Jerusalem. Last month, Oren was summoned by the State Department to demand a Jewish construction project in eastern Jerusalem be immediately halted.
The construction project, financed by Miami Beach philanthropist Irving Moskowitz, is located just yards from Israel's national police headquarters and other government ministries. It is a few blocks from the country's prestigious Hebrew University, underscoring the centrality of the Jewish real estate being condemned by the U.S.
Netanyahu strongly rejected the State Department demand, telling a cabinet meeting Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem was not a matter up for discussion.
"Imagine what would happen if someone were to suggest Jews could not live in or purchase [property] in certain neighborhoods in London, New York, Paris or Rome," he said just after his ambassador was summoned.
"The international community would certainly raise protest. Likewise, we cannot accept such a ruling