{Originally posted to the author’s blog, My Right Word}
A new settlement in Sheikh Jarrah
On July 16, the Jerusalem regional planning committee is intended to discuss several plans for settlements within Palestinian neighbourhoods. Of those, 4 plans will be discussed for the Um Haroun neighbourhood (located within Sheikh Jarrah)…two of the plans include the demolition of homes of 5 Palestinian families.The two plans for 13 housing units in Sheikh Jarrah will be established on properties in which 5 Palestinian families currently reside. These properties are under a legal battle through which settlers seek the evacuation of these Palestinian families. Although the Palestinian families are legally regarded as protected tenants they reside in properties that prior to 1948 were Jewish owned, and the Israeli law enables Israeli citizens to return to properties that were owned by Jews prior to 1948…
The accompanying map:
First, Um Haroun neighborhood?
Or…
Nahalat Shimon (Hebrew: נחלת שמעון. lit. Simeon’s Estate) is a Jewish religious neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Nahalat Shimon was founded in 1891 by Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish Kollels, to house poor Yemenite and Sephardi Jews.
Second, new?
Or…
The cornerstone of the neighborhood was laid in 1890, near the Tomb of Simeon the Just….The land was purchased in 1890 and the first homes were built soon after, housing 20 impoverished families. In 1947, there were 100 Jewish homes in the neighborhood. In March 1948, the British ordered the residents to evacuate within two hours due to mounting Arab violence.
You don’t believe they had to leave due to Arab-initiated violence, in contradiction to a UN resolution of November 29, 1947?
And where is the Nashashibi Quarter?
Three, and you thought UNESCO was bad for Jewish history and national identity?
Think again. And think about Peace Now.