Saleh Diab and his family are at risk of unlawful transfer from occupied East Jerusalem after the Israeli District Court rejected their appeal against eviction from their home in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in February 2025. These forced evictions, led by settler group Nachalat Shimon, are part of a continuing pattern of dispossession in Sheikh Jarrah. The Israeli Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision regarding the request for leave to appeal no sooner than the second half of July, marking their final legal lifeline against displacement.
What’s the problem?
Saleh Diab’s extended family of 23 has been embroiled in a legal battle against eviction at the hands of settlers for decades. Threats against them have escalated since 2009. The settler group Nahalat Shimon International is using the 1970 Legal and Administrative Matters Law as the legal basis to demand their expulsion.
Since 2009, Saleh Diab has helped organize peaceful protests in Sheikh Jarrah, attracting Israeli and international solidarity activists. These protests received widespread international attention in April 2021 when Saleh Diab and other families in Shiekh Jarrah mobilized Palestinians in Jerusalem and other areas to take to the streets and raise their voice to save Sheikh Jarrah. Then, Amnesty International documented arbitrary arrests of peaceful demonstrators, the use of excessive force, use of sound and stun grenades as well as the spraying of maloderant (skunk) water cannons at demonstrators and homes in Sheikh Jarrah. In solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah residents, thousands of Palestinians across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) staged protests to express opposition to the broader issues of displacement, segregation and fragmentation that they collectively endure. Israeli forces responded with disproportionate and often lethal force, resulting in widespread injuries, arrests and detentions.
What can you do to help?
Call on the Israeli authorities to immediately halt the unlawful eviction of Saleh Diab and his family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah, occupied East Jerusalem.
