Bad news from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the section traditionally favored by the Brits, where you will find their consulate and the Quartet’s mega-headquarters, and the Shepherd’s Hotel, now converted into a settlement. Apparently the Judaization is beginning again in Sheikh Jarrah, after a three-year lull. Will the State Department breathe a word? Hillary Clinton spoke up a little, two years ago. Irene Nasser reports:

Danger of Immediate Eviction in Sheikh Jarrah for the First time in Three Years

The 10 members of the Shamasneh family in Um Haroun, Sheikh Jarrah, are ordered to leave their home before the end of the year. Their home has been released to the hands of a settler organization and Arieh King.

For the first time in more than three years, a Palestinian family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah is facing immediate eviction and dispossession at the hands of the Israeli authorities and extremist Jewish settlers. According to the Jerusalem district court, the 10 members of the Shamanseh family must leave the home they have been living in for almost five decades – before the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem – by December 31st at 14:00.

The Israeli General Custodian, which has claimed ownership of the property, was represented in the legal processes by private lawyers who are known to represent settler organizations, including Aryeh King’s “Israel Lands Fund.” The group that intends to take over the Shamanseh house and populate it with Jewish settlers.

During and following the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah in 2009, the international community issued strong statements condemning Israel’s actions. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed opposition to the settlement of Sheikh Jarrah and a report issued by representatives of the EU last year described such steps as “systematically undermining the Palestinian presence” in Jerusalem and recommended the potential of issuing sanctions on Israel in response to such actions in East Jerusalem.

