Right now the media is reporting that the Palestinian residents in Sheikh Jarrah are being evicted. Somehow the media is not explaining the history and background of this eviction.<\/p>\n
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The Kohelet Policy Forum<\/a> provides the background on the situation:<\/p>\n T<\/span>he <\/span>current <\/span>dispute in Sheikh <\/span>Jarrah <\/span>involves several properties with <\/span>tenants whose leases have expired<\/span>, and <\/span>in a few cases squatters with no tenancy <\/span>rights at all<\/span>,<\/span>against <\/span>owner<\/span>–<\/span>landlord<\/span>s who have successfully <\/span>won <\/span>court orders <\/span>evicting <\/span>the <\/span>squatters and <\/span>overstaying tenants. The litigation h<\/span>as taken several <\/span>years, and the owners have won at every step. <\/span>The <\/span>squatters <\/span>and <\/span>overstaying <\/span>tenants have appealed <\/span>against the eviction orders <\/span>to the Supreme Court. <\/span>The <\/span>only decision that stands before the Israeli government is whether to honor the <\/span>courts\u2019 <\/span>decisions and enforce the eviction orders <\/span>if affirmed by the Supreme <\/span>Court<\/span>, or whether to defy court orders and deny the <\/span>property <\/span>owners their <\/span>legal <\/span>rights.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Fox News<\/a> did not accurately report on the situation:<\/p>\n …Trey Yingst\u2019s May 8 report<\/a>, which aired on FOX at about 1:57 PM Eastern time. Yingst claimed that the court decision to evict certain residents of that neighborhood was based on \u201can obscure Israeli law.\u201d Yingst also quoted the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs claiming that the residents are at risk \u201cif the [Israeli] Supreme Court sets a new standard.\u201d Of course, there is nothing \u201cobscure\u201d about the requirement that tenants pay rent, nor is it a \u201cnew standard.\u201d<\/strong> Be aware that the media often reports on events in Israel without knowing or including the background information that explains what is happening.<\/p>\n \n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Right now the media is reporting that the Palestinian residents in Sheikh Jarrah are being evicted. Somehow the media is not explaining the history and background of this eviction. The Kohelet Policy Forum provides the background on the situation: … Continue reading
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\nNGO Monitor reports<\/a> that, \u201caccording to a 1989 High Court decision, and re-affirmed repeatedly in subsequent cases, as in the case of any tenant living on someone else\u2019s property, residents … were required to pay rent to the organizations that owned the properties. Their failure to do so, along with instances of illegal building and illegally renting properties to others, resulted in the current legal proceedings against them, culminating in the District Court decision.\u201d<\/strong>
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\nAnd the Kohelet Policy forum explains<\/a>, \u201cthe leasehold and trespass legal issues at stake are similar to those found throughout the world, other than the unusually strong rent control and tenant protections given to the protected tenants (Palestinian Arabs in this dispute).\u201d<\/strong>
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\nWhile Yingst interviewed two residents of the neighborhood on camera, he did not interview anyone who could reliably give an accurate legal perspective.<\/strong>
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\nWhile a decision on the case has now been postponed for up to a month, the violence that it has spurred continues to escalate, so it\u2019s important for journalists and the public to understand the facts. Moreover, as described below, Yingst\u2019s reporting on continuing events also adds new errors. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n