07-30-2009, 06:25 AM
WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Muslim activists blocked Jews from moving in
Newfound boldness follows Obama's demand to halt Jewish construction
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Posted: July 23, 2009
1:20 am Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – In a nearly unprecedented move, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party this week worked in an official capacity to block an attempt by Jews to move into a home in Jerusalem.
The incident took place just days after the U.S. protested a legal Jewish construction project in Jerusalem and Fatah showed a newfound boldness to solidify an Arab hold of the city. The Palestinians claim eastern sections of Jerusalem as their future capital.
"We are permitted to resist any existing illegal settlement activity whether it's in Jerusalem or anywhere else," Dmitri Ziliani, a spokesman for the Jerusalem section of Fatah, told WND.
According to Israeli law, however, the PA cannot officially act in Jerusalem, although Israeli police this week did not arrest the Fatah activists.
On Tuesday, Ziliani and about a dozen Fatah activists, including PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abdul Qader, holed themselves up inside a home in the Sheik Jarra neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem to block an attempt by Jews to move into the house.
The home was originally Jewish, but its 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 until recently.
Jewish groups say they legally purchased the property from the Hejazi family but that following Fatah pressure the family denied selling it back to the Jews despite documentation and even video evidence showing the sale went through.
Fatah the past few months has executed four Arabs for selling land to Jews.
More on this Story
Muslim activists blocked Jews from moving in
Newfound boldness follows Obama's demand to halt Jewish construction
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 23, 2009
1:20 am Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – In a nearly unprecedented move, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party this week worked in an official capacity to block an attempt by Jews to move into a home in Jerusalem.
The incident took place just days after the U.S. protested a legal Jewish construction project in Jerusalem and Fatah showed a newfound boldness to solidify an Arab hold of the city. The Palestinians claim eastern sections of Jerusalem as their future capital.
"We are permitted to resist any existing illegal settlement activity whether it's in Jerusalem or anywhere else," Dmitri Ziliani, a spokesman for the Jerusalem section of Fatah, told WND.
According to Israeli law, however, the PA cannot officially act in Jerusalem, although Israeli police this week did not arrest the Fatah activists.
On Tuesday, Ziliani and about a dozen Fatah activists, including PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abdul Qader, holed themselves up inside a home in the Sheik Jarra neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem to block an attempt by Jews to move into the house.
The home was originally Jewish, but its 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 until recently.
Jewish groups say they legally purchased the property from the Hejazi family but that following Fatah pressure the family denied selling it back to the Jews despite documentation and even video evidence showing the sale went through.
Fatah the past few months has executed four Arabs for selling land to Jews.