Jordan hands over Palestinian documents to stop Israel enforcing Jerusalem evictions

Israeli court reportedly gave families until May 2 to leave their homes in the predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah or be evicted

Israeli soldiers and police officers prevent Palestinian women from crossing at Kalandia checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem. EPA

A Jordanian diplomat handed the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah documents on Wednesday intended to help prevent Israel from expelling Palestinian families from part of Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, he said.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made the trip to the West Bank after an Israeli court reportedly gave the families until May 2 to leave their homes in the predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah or be evicted.

Jordan administered the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, until the 1967 war and remains the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Ramallah. Jordan Foreign Ministry via AFP

The kingdom says it built homes for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem after the state of Israel's creation in 1948.

"All the documents we hold on property and land in Jerusalem have been passed on to the Palestinian Authority," Mr Safadi said in Ramallah.

“We are co-operating with the Palestinian Authority and the international community to prevent the expulsion of the Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah.”

Palestinian protesters wave flags as Israeli troops take position during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. Reuters

Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there’s little to prevent him from annexing large parts of the West Bank as early as this summer. AP

An Israeli soldier stands guard during a tour made by Israeli parliament members in the Jordan Valley near the Jewish settlement of Maale Efrayim. Reuters

Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinian demonstrators gather during a protest against expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. AP

King Abdullah (r) of Transjordan on May 13, 1948 in Amman with Abed Al Rahman Azzam, the secretary general of the Arab League and Abd Al Elah Ibn Ali, the Prince Regent of Iraq, the day before the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli War. AFP

Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the occupied territory of the West Bank after Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and Syria and seized the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in Syria as well as the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. AFP

A Palestinian child plays in a refugee camp in Jordan on June 23, 1967. AFP

PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a speech to the Palestine National Council meeting to make the historic proclamation of a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories and to recognize Israel in the Palace of Nations conference hall on November 12, 1988, in Algiers. AFP

US President Bill Clinton stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin as they shake hands for the first time on September 13, 1993 at the White House. AFP

Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after they exchanged the documents of the Peace Treaty at Beit Gabriel conference centre on November 10, 1994 on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the Palestinian leadership meeting and threatened to end security coordination with Israel and the United States, saying Israeli annexation would ruin chances for peace. AFP

Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters

Israel's controversial concrete barrier (C) separating the Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov (foreground) in the northern part of east Jerusalem and the Palestinian area of al-Ram (background) in the occupied West Bank. AFP

An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador's residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or "catastrophe". AFP

A Palestinian shepherd tends to his camels on arid land considered to be in "Area C" (under Israeli security and administrative control), southeast of Yatta town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron. AFP

A general view of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, as seen from the Palestinian village of Azmout near the West Bank City of Nablus. EPA

The West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Michmash. AP

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said it had “found the documents proving that the ministry of development that built these houses had in 1956 finalised lease agreements for homes in Sheikh Jarrah”.

It said the contracts between the Jordanian government, which owned the houses, and Palestinian tenants, were certified by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. According to the documents, the houses were for 28 families.

Mr Safadi said Jordan’s King Abdullah II considers Jerusalem “a red line”.

“There must be international action capable of stopping unilateral Israeli measures,” the minister said.

Israeli authorities made no comment.

Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dhaifallah Ali Al Fayez said the beneficiaries were Palestinian refugees who fled their homes in 1948.

“After 1967, there have been repeated attempts by Israel to expel the Palestinians from their homes,” he told AFP.

Jerusalem’s status is one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the international community insisting it must be negotiated by the two sides.

Israel views the whole city as its capital while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their own future state.