- CITY OF DAVID -- The first
Ruad Ajlouni knew that the Israelis were moving in was as he awoke in the
early hours to find a group of armed men standing over his sleeping children.
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- The 30 or so Jewish activists had quietly clambered on
to the terrace roof of the three-storey apartment block in run-down Arab
east Jerusalem, drilled their way through the locks of the outside doors
and surrounded the Ajlounis before they had a chance to stir.
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- "They said they had bought the flat and were moving
in," said Mr Ajlouni. "At three o'clock in the morning. I said:
'Good for you. Show us the documents and I will help you move the furniture'."
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- But there were no deeds, only weapons. Within a few minutes,
the Ajlounis and their five children, the youngest just 18 months old,
were out of the door. The furniture followed.
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- When the Israeli police finally arrived, after the Ajlounis
had spent hours pleading for help, the officers said there was nothing
they could do: it was a matter for the courts - and they nearly always
back Jewish over Palestinian property claims.
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- "This area is a prime target area for the settlers
because they claim this is King David's city. They want to evacuate as
many Palestinians as possible and replace them with Jews so they can say
there are no Arabs in it," said Mr Ajlouni.
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- The Ajlounis' home is pinned between the southern ramparts
of the old city's Jewish quarter and the site of the biblical City of David.
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- It was here, 3,000 years ago, that King David established
the First Temple and Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
And it is here today that Jews are seeking to reclaim the ancient city
as their own by repopulating the Arab neighbourhood between the City of
David and Judaism's holiest site, the Wailing Wall.
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- Leading the charge is Elad, the City of David Foundation,
which is excavating King David's palace and some of the homes of the thousands
of Israelites who once lived around it.
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- "The goal of our organisation is to increase the
presence of Jews in the neighbourhood as much as possible," said Elad's
director, Doron Spielman. "We've been dreaming of coming back to biblical
Jerusalem for 3,000 years. This is the fulfilment of our dreams. We cannot
trust that if this is an Arab neighbourhood, Jews will be safe to walk
around here."
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- Elad says it has bought up 42 homes so far in legal transactions
which have been upheld by the courts when they are disputed. The Palestinians
say that Elad is responsible for ethnic cleansing by stealth through the
seizure and occupation of property or duping the vulnerable into signing
papers they do not understand.
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- Strategy Israeli critics, such as the Jerusalem city
councillor Meir Margalit, of the leftwing Meretz party, say Elad's operation
is one part of a wider government strategy to "Judaise" swaths
of east Jerusalem by refusing planning permission to Arabs, demolishing
Palestinian homes and constructing the towering new "security"
wall through the east of the city.
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- "All these features together paint a very dramatic
picture where the Israeli government, together with the settlers, are part
of a national programme to make the life of Palestinians so hard they will
leave Jerusalem. It is that simple," said Mr Margalit.
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- "The country is full of places where Jewish history
is found. For that matter, you can even find such places in Iraq. But this
cannot be a reason to take houses of people who have lived there all their
lives. This is not about buying houses. This is political."
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- The men who arrived at the Ajlouni flat in the early
hours seized two of six apartments in a block built by the family patriarch,
Mohammed Jabber Ajlouni, in 1955. Over the years he bequeathed five of
the flats to his sons and a niece but with a clause saying that they could
not be sold so long as he is alive.
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- Elad claims to have bought the two flats from one of
the sons, Hassan, before he was hit and killed by a car in January. The
family describe Hassan as a "drinker", an unusual and humiliating
admission from a Muslim family. They say they do not know if he took money
for the flat, but that he had no right to and it could not have been a
legal transaction.
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- Elad also claims to have bought a flat belonging to another
son, Subhi, who lives in the United States. The family is adamant that
he did not sell his apartment.
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- "Even if Hassan signed something, he had no authority
to sell. It would also require my signature," said Mohammed Jabber
Ajlouni. "And if these settlers are the true owners, let me ask you
this: Why do they come in the middle of the night, like bats, terrorising
our children? Why not follow the law?"
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- Mr Spielman insists the sale documents are legal but
declines to make them public or disclose the price he paid. The courts
have sided with Elad, saying it can continue to occupy the flats until
the legal issues are resolved.
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- Outside the seized apartment, one of the new occupants,
a man who gave his name only as Udi, stood with a pistol on his hip. He
says they had not intended to arrive in the middle of the night.
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- "We actually planned to do it in the day. To come,
to say hello, we're your new neighbours. Then we heard that the apartment
was empty after the owner died and that other people had moved in to our
apartment, so we knew it would be difficult," he said.
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- The Ajlounis say Hassan's flat remained empty after he
died and that they have lived in Subhi's apartment for as long as he has
been in America.
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- Retaliation Mr Spielman claims the Ajlouni family is
putting up a front because it wants to avoid retaliation from the Palestinian
Authority for selling the property to Jews.
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- "They know that if they sell their houses, the Jews
will buy. The main obstacle to Arabs selling their homes is not an attachment
to this hill, it's a fear of the PA," he said.
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- Udi said the Palestinians embraced the growing Jewish
presence.
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- "The Arabs welcome us, actually. They say they know
that when we are here everything will be nicer. The street will be cleaner.
They tell us: 'We are happy you are here'," he said.
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- But the Jews are not so welcome that they do not feel
the need to build sentry posts manned by armed men outside each home. They
are funded by the government, a reflection of its support for the expansion
of Jews in the Arab east of the city.
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- Among those who have moved into the area is a Jewish-American
avionics engineer, Gary Speiser.
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- "My grandfather was born in the old city so we always
had a family connection," he said. "I don't consider myself a
settler. I've heard friends and relatives call us that but we don't think
that way because I don't mind being in a mixed neighbourhood. But I do
desire a more Jewish or a Jewish-only neighbourhood."
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- Three families live in his complex under the protection
of an armed guard perched in a watchtower at the gate.
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- "It's a very special feeling living here, really
living part of history. It's also a very weird feeling in a good way, as
if we're living in a different world down here."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1172960,00.html
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