Reply #8: Court orders settlers to leave building in East Jerusalem

[oberliner]

The Ateret Cohanim association must give up one its major strongholds in East Jerusalem, after a court ordered it to seal up a seven-story building it erected in Kfar Silwan and evict its Jewish residents. This is the first time settlers will be forced to evacuate a building in East Jerusalem since the association began its settlement activities there after the 1967 Six-Day War.

Judge Eliahu Zimra, of the Jerusalem Court of Municipal Affairs, ruled that the eight families living in the building must leave within two months from today, after which all the building's openings must be sealed with concrete blocks. Each defendant was also ordered to pay a fine of NIS 3,500. If the building is not sealed by April 15, the district planning committee will carry out the task and charge the families for the work. The Supreme Court rejected the families' request for an extension of the deadline.

Palestinian residents of Silwan expressed great satisfaction with the ruling, which is likely to deal a hard blow to the settlers' effort to expand their foothold in the eastern part of the city.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/827038.html