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A father of five, Saleh Diab, and his extended family are facing forced eviction from their longtime home in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem. In February 2025, an Israeli District Court rejected their appeal to stay in their home.

A settler group called Nahalat Shimon is behind this push to evict them. This is part of a wider pattern of forcing Palestinian families out of Sheikh Jarrah. 

There is still a small window of hope. In May 2025, the Israeli Supreme Court agreed to hear the family’s final appeal. This is their last legal chance to stop the eviction and remain in their home. If unsuccessful, the family of 23 including 7 children will be made homeless. 

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. 

We're now at the final legal lifeline for Saleh and his family. Urge the authorities to immediately halt the unlawful eviction of the Diab family and end the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. 

A longstanding system of discrimination 

Since the founding of Israel in 1948, governments have introduced laws and policies that discriminate against Palestinians. These rules are designed to keep Palestinians divided and to give Jewish-Israelis legal and social advantages. 

This system has created ongoing inequality, which amounts to apartheid under international law. 

In 1967, Israel occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem. Since then, it has tried to reduce the number of Palestinians living there. Authorities have done this by expanding settlements, taking land, revoking residency rights, and carrying out forced evictions. 

One law, called the 1970 Legal and Administrative Matters Law, lets Jewish-Israelis reclaim property they owned before 1948. But Palestinians who were forced from their homes during the same time have no such right. 

For example, Saleh Diab is not allowed to return to his family’s home in the al-Ajami neighbourhood of Jaffa, from which they were expelled in 1948. 

The Diab family’s legal struggles

Saleh Diab and his family have been fighting eviction for decades. The pressure has gotten worse since 2009. 

The settler group Nahalat Shimon International is using the 1970 law to try and remove the family from their home. 

The family’s case is just one example of the larger effort to force Palestinians out of Sheikh Jarrah and replace them with settlers. 

Saleh told Amnesty International that settlers still harass and threaten him and his family. He has faced police violence, settler attacks, and constant surveillance but he continues to stand up for his home and his community.

Sign the petition now to halt the forcible transfer of Saleh Diab and his family.

 

Sign the Petition

  Our Petition
 
 

Gideon Sa'ar
Israel Foreign Minister
9 Yitzhak Rabin Boulevard 
Kiryat HaLeom
Jerusalem 9103001 

 

Dear Gideon Sa’ar, 

I write to express my grave concern over the imminent forced eviction of Saleh Diab and his family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem. Saleh Diab, a father of five, and his family members, including children, two brothers and their children, have long been under threat of eviction by the settler group Nahalat Shimon International. 

Saleh Diab has been at the forefront of the struggle to protect Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah against forced eviction, exposing him to extreme violence by both settlers and the police, without protection. After the Jerusalem District Court rejected Saleh Diab’s appeal in February, the last remaining legal lifeline for the family is their second appeal, to be heard before the Supreme Court. If displaced, 23 individuals, including seven children, will lose the only place they call home. 

The Diab family’s case underscores Israel’s sustained campaign to expand illegal Israeli settlements and step up forced evictions of Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem, such as those in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, to make way for Israeli settlers. 

I urge you to immediately halt the forced eviction of the Diab family in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and end the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians from East Jerusalem. If carried out, the evictions would constitute the war crime of unlawful transfer, and, when committed in the context of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population, would constitute the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.  

I also urge you to guarantee the protection of Saleh Diab and his family against violence, harassment and attacks by settlers. 

Uprooting the family from the home where they had lived for decades is not only cruel, but also a grave breach of international law. 

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]