Yesterday the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah was once again the site of clashes between Arabs and Jews. As in previous cases, Jewish nationalists won a court case claiming historical ownership of a home occupied by Palestinian Arabs since before 1967, the Palestinian occupants were subsequently evicted by force.

East Jerusalem has been under Israeli control since 1967, following a war between Israel and neighboring Arab states. Prior to 1967, East Jerusalem was in Jordanian hands. Israel now claims Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

As part of the ongoing struggle for dominance in East Jerusalem, Israel has on many occasions evicted Palestinians from their homes, based on legal 'proof' of historical ownership by Jews; or they have stripped them of their residency rights as a consequence of staying abroad for several years. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are stateless, with neither Israeli nor Palestinian Authority passports / travel documents. East Jerusalem residents do carry 'blue' Israeli identity cards; they are entitled to national health services and national insurance benefits; and they are permitted to travel freely between East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Haaretz reports that Israel's ministry of interior stripped a record number of Palestinian East Jerusalemites of their residency last year - 21 times the average of the previous 40 years.

Jewish settlers immediately moved into the homes of the evicted Palestinians. Earlier this year, previous evictions of this type were widely publicized in the international media and on blogs. They also drew protests from the UN and foreign governments - including the Obama administration.

Protests to previous evictions were peaceful, with people gathering to stand vigil and perhaps chant while holding up signs. But this time, the protests turned into violent clashes - as shown in the AP report below:

From the New York Times report:

A Jewish association won its claim to historical ownership of the land in question, and has plans to build a large Jewish housing complex there. The Palestinians fear that the Jewish presence in Sheik Jarrah is part of a larger project to cement Israeli control of the eastern part of the city and to push Palestinian residents out.

The latest Jewish residents to move into the area were escorted by the police and private security guards and immediately removed furniture from the property, which was built by a Palestinian family headed by Refka al-Kurd, 87.

The small, one-story structure was built about 10 years ago as an extension of the Kurds' original home, but it was unoccupied, having been sealed by the authorities after it was determined to have been constructed without the proper permits.

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