Question Period Note: Sheikh Jarrah evictions in East Jerusalem

On January 19, 2022, the Salhiya family was evicted from their house in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. The house was immediately demolished.

• Canada remains concerned by eviction processes in and around Jerusalem, including the ongoing cases in Sheikh Jarrah.
• These actions impact families and livelihoods and can threaten their security and stability.
• Canada is committed to the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, including the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel.
• Unilateral actions constitute a serious obstacle to the prospects for peace.
• Canada does not recognize Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem or Israeli permanent control over territories occupied in 1967.

On January 19, the Salhiya family, consisting of three adults and nine children, was evicted from their house in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. The house was immediately demolished. The family had received an eviction order in early January after a legal process lasting many years, and had unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to prevent it from being carried out. The ownership of the plot of land is contested. The Jerusalem municipality argued the land was sited for the erection of a school and that the family was squatting on the land.

The eviction was the first to be carried out in Sheikh Jarrah in nearly five years. The 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas that took place in May 2021 was in part catalyzed by anger over eviction orders in Sheikh Jarrah.

Sheikh Jarrah is a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood lying to the north of the Old City in Jerusalem. The Old City and the adjacent ring of densely-populated Palestinian neighborhoods are the most contested and politically sensitive part of Jerusalem due to the concentration of holy sites as well as religious and historical sites within their confines. Fourteen buildings in Sheikh Jarrah are currently subject to eviction proceedings, eight of which have been appealed up to the Supreme Court. Some families have reached the end of the legal proceedings and received, or are expecting to receive, eviction notices in the coming weeks. Questions surrounding land ownership are highly complex and contested, with competing claims dating back to the pre-1948 period.

According to UN OCHA, as of 2020, an estimated 218 Palestinian households (comprising 970 Palestinians, 424 of whom are children) across East Jerusalem are at risk of displacement by evictions.

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