Gunmen evict family at dawn from home in King David's city

The first Ruad Ajlouni knew that the Israelis were moving in was as he awoke in the early hours to find a group of armed men standing over his sleeping children. The 30 or so Jewish activists had quietly clambered on to the terrace roof of the three-storey apartment block in run-down Arab east Jerusalem, drilled their way through the locks of the outside doors and surrounded the Ajlounis before they had a chance to stir.

"They said they had bought the flat and were moving in," said Mr Ajlouni. "At three o'clock in the morning. I said: 'Good for you. Show us the documents and I will help you move the furniture'."

But there were no deeds, only weapons. Within a few minutes, the Ajlounis and their five children, the youngest just 18 months old, were out of the door. The furniture followed.

When the Israeli police finally arrived, after the Ajlounis had spent hours pleading for help, the officers said there was nothing they could do: it was a matter for the courts - and they nearly always back Jewish over Palestinian property claims.

"This area is a prime target area for the settlers because they claim this is King David's city. They want to evacuate as many Palestinians as possible and replace them with Jews so they can say there are no Arabs in it," said Mr Ajlouni.

The Ajlounis' home is pinned between the southern ramparts of the old city's Jewish quarter and the site of the biblical City of David.

It was here, 3,000 years ago, that King David established the First Temple and Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people. And it is here today that Jews are seeking to reclaim the ancient city as their own by repopulating the Arab neighbourhood between the City of David and Judaism's holiest site, the Wailing Wall.

Leading the charge is Elad, the City of David Foundation, which is excavating King David's palace and some of the homes of the thousands of Israelites who once lived around it.

"The goal of our organisation is to increase the presence of Jews in the neighbourhood as much as possible," said Elad's director, Doron Spielman. "We've been dreaming of coming back to biblical Jerusalem for 3,000 years. This is the fulfilment of our dreams. We cannot trust that if this is an Arab neighbourhood, Jews will be safe to walk around here."

Elad says it has bought up 42 homes so far in legal transactions which have been upheld by the courts when they are disputed. The Palestinians say that Elad is responsible for ethnic cleansing by stealth through the seizure and occupation of property or duping the vulnerable into signing papers they do not understand.

Strategy
Israeli critics, such as the Jerusalem city councillor Meir Margalit, of the leftwing Meretz party, say Elad's operation is one part of a wider government strategy to "Judaise" swaths of east Jerusalem by refusing planning permission to Arabs, demolishing Palestinian homes and constructing the towering new "security" wall through the east of the city.

"All these features together paint a very dramatic picture where the Israeli government, together with the settlers, are part of a national programme to make the life of Palestinians so hard they will leave Jerusalem. It is that simple," said Mr Margalit.

"The country is full of places where Jewish history is found. For that matter, you can even find such places in Iraq. But this cannot be a reason to take houses of people who have lived there all their lives. This is not about buying houses. This is political."

The men who arrived at the Ajlouni flat in the early hours seized two of six apartments in a block built by the family patriarch, Mohammed Jabber Ajlouni, in 1955. Over the years he bequeathed five of the flats to his sons and a niece but with a clause saying that they could not be sold so long as he is alive.

Elad claims to have bought the two flats from one of the sons, Hassan, before he was hit and killed by a car in January. The family describe Hassan as a "drinker", an unusual and humiliating admission from a Muslim family. They say they do not know if he took money for the flat, but that he had no right to and it could not have been a legal transaction.

Elad also claims to have bought a flat belonging to another son, Subhi, who lives in the United States. The family is adamant that he did not sell his apartment.

"Even if Hassan signed something, he had no authority to sell. It would also require my signature," said Mohammed Jabber Ajlouni. "And if these settlers are the true owners, let me ask you this: Why do they come in the middle of the night, like bats, terrorising our children? Why not follow the law?"

Mr Spielman insists the sale documents are legal but declines to make them public or disclose the price he paid. The courts have sided with Elad, saying it can continue to occupy the flats until the legal issues are resolved.

Outside the seized apartment, one of the new occupants, a man who gave his name only as Udi, stood with a pistol on his hip. He says they had not intended to arrive in the middle of the night.

"We actually planned to do it in the day. To come, to say hello, we're your new neighbours. Then we heard that the apartment was empty after the owner died and that other people had moved in to our apartment, so we knew it would be difficult," he said.

The Ajlounis say Hassan's flat remained empty after he died and that they have lived in Subhi's apartment for as long as he has been in America.

Retaliation
Mr Spielman claims the Ajlouni family is putting up a front because it wants to avoid retaliation from the Palestinian Authority for selling the property to Jews.

"They know that if they sell their houses, the Jews will buy. The main obstacle to Arabs selling their homes is not an attachment to this hill, it's a fear of the PA," he said.

"The Arabs welcome us, actually. They say they know that when we are here everything will be nicer. The street will be cleaner. They tell us: 'We are happy you are here'," he said.

But the Jews are not so welcome that they do not feel the need to build sentry posts manned by armed men outside each home. They are funded by the government, a reflection of its support for the expansion of Jews in the Arab east of the city.

Among those who have moved into the area is a Jewish-American avionics engineer, Gary Speiser.

"My grandfather was born in the old city so we always had a family connection," he said. "I don't consider myself a settler. I've heard friends and relatives call us that but we don't think that way because I don't mind being in a mixed neighbourhood. But I do desire a more Jewish or a Jewish-only neighbourhood."

Three families live in his complex under the protection of an armed guard perched in a watchtower at the gate.

"It's a very special feeling living here, really living part of history. It's also a very weird feeling in a good way, as if we're living in a different world down here."

Looks like terrorism is a two way street in that $hitty little part of the world. I wish the Jews would just load up one way trains and buses to the Jor-Gyp borders, empty the place out of towel heads and listen to the UN and Skerry Kerry scream for weeks, But at least the crap would be at an end.

2 posted on 03/21/2004 5:04:35 PM PST by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)

This is a sad story.

Its difficult to tell who's wrong or right.

The whole Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a nightmare. I wish we didn't have to even hear of it.

The Jews (Hebrews) are wrong.

The Palestinians (Ishmalites) are wrong.

The whole place is a cesspool of despair.

I don't know anything about this specific incident.

However, in the past Elad has had to move into houses that they purchase during the night -- in coordination with municap police -- in order to minimize arab rioting.

Typically, Elad purchases these homes (especially in Silwam, the old "City of David")and moves its people in as soon as security considerations permit it.

I also know that the squatter laws in Israel very much favor the squatters over the landlords. As a result, it may be that they have a greater likelihood of taking control of their homes through the use of surprise.

It's a shame that they are so concerned with the threat of arab violence that they have to resort to these actions in order to move into homes that they generally are found to have purchased lawfully.

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