In July 2008 Rabbis for Human Rights’ gathered Israeli background on the Al Kurd family home that has been in the news for the past two weeks. They are the family forced out at dawn last week who have set up in a tent outside in the Al Bustan area of East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah.

In July, in a very unusual development, a lone judge on the High Court (Danziger) ruled that the Al-Kurd family was to be expelled within 24 hours from the home they have lived in since 1956.

In the 70's, according to the families, a representative of the Va'ad Sefaradi showed a rental agreement in Turkish to the Land Registry and, claiming it was a Turkish land title to lands that had been in their ownership until 1948, received an Israeli title. Thus started the struggle to expel Palestinian refugees from 1948 that had been settled in the neighborhood by the Jordanian government in the 50's. In the 80's the lawyer representing 27 Palestinian families living in the neighborhood signed a document which at least partially recognized that the land belonged to the Va'ad Sefaradi in return for protected tenant status. I write "partially" because rent is not paid to the Va'ad, but an escrow fund administered by the court which will be given to the Va'ad if their ownership claims are definitively recognized.

In the 90's a group supported by Benny Alon called "Nakhalat Shimon" (the grave of Shimon HaTzadik is in the neighborhood) began attempts to take over homes in the neighborhood. This was part of Alon and Ariel Sharon's plan to plant Jewish neighborhoods in between Palestinian neighborhoods to make Jerusalem indivisible. In 1999 Nakhalat Shimon took over part of the Al-Kurd home and they have been "sharing" the house ever since. As written above, the Nakhalat Shimon claim is that this land belongs to the Va'ad Sefaradi, whereas the families claim that it belongs to the Darwish family.

Seven years ago the court ordered several Sheikh Jarrah families from their homes, but did not allow Nakhalat Shimon to enter. Two years ago the High Court ruled that neither the Va'ad Sefaradi nor Darwish family could prove ownership and that everybody should continue living in the homes they were currently living in. On that basis the families expelled 5 years earlier returned to their homes.

A year ago a court ruled that the Nakhalat Shimon families must leave the Al-Kurd home because they had done building without a permit. This is another example of the eifa v'eifa (discriminatory) behavior practiced towards Palestinians if police will expell the Al-Kurd family tonight or tomorrow but not Nakhalat Shimon. Not only is this a tragedy for the Al Kurd family, it sets a precedent to justify further expulsions from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. This places in jeopardy the future of another 26 homes with a combined total of more than 500 people.

The Al-Kurd family are 1948 refugees from Talbieh on the father's side and Jaffa on the mother's side. If they are expelled, they have nowhere to go. They will have no roof or land or future. Nobody will return them to the homes which they owned before 1948.

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