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Video duration 06 minutes 19 seconds 06:19
Occupied Jerusalem -
Jerusalemite citizen Sami Darwish exhausted all available means in an attempt to protect his land and historic homes from the fangs of Israeli settlement, but all his attempts failed and he lost both the land and the homes.
After a legal battle that lasted for nearly two decades, the Israeli Supreme Court decided last Monday to strip him of his property in the village of Al-Walaja, south of the Holy City, in favor of the “Gilo” settlement.
On Monday, early March, the final decision was made to confiscate Darwish’s (63 years old) land, which covers an area of about 241 dunums (a dunum is equal to a thousand square metres) and 3 houses built on it.
Darwish talks about the history of the houses in which he lives with his family and brothers, which were built before the occupation, explaining that they are part of the village of Al-Maliha, which was displaced in 1948.
The citizen reveals - to Al Jazeera Net - bargains and generous financial offers in exchange for giving up his land to the occupation, but he sought the judicial side, even if it was not in his favor, to be labeled as “the one who sold his land.”
Darwish presented a document proving generous offers made to him, including $84 million, adding that he rejected the offer because it was “haram money” and he would not accept to enter his home for the rest of his life.
The occupation court’s decision affects 3 old houses with a total area exceeding 400 square metres, inhabited by 30 members of the Darwish family.
Source: Al Jazeera