Israeli authorities raided the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday and delivered eviction notices to six families in the area, also raiding the home of the Shamasna family, who has recently been fighting eviction from their home of 53 years.

According to Israeli law, Jewish Israelis are permitted to claim ownership over property believed to have been owned by Jews before 1948 during Ottoman or British rule. However, such a law does not exist for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were displaced from their lands and homes during and after the establishment of the state of Israel.

Israelis have claimed that Sheikh Jarrah was once the site of a 19th century Jewish community. Many families in the neighborhood have been embroiled in legal disputes for decades, as various Israeli settlers have attempted to claim ownership over their homes.

Sheikh Jarrah family faces eviction to benefit settlers @AJEnglish https://t.co/WJjaSr8DCm

— Marmamelia (@marmamelia) August 26, 2017

If the eviction plans are carried out, they would be the first evictions in the neighborhood since 2009, when the Um Kamel al-Kurd, Ghawi, and Hanoun families were evicted from their homes by Israeli settlers under similar ownership claims.

Meanwhile in late August, Arieh King, director of right-wing settler organization the Israel Land Fund (ILF) – which receives tax-deductible status as a nonprofit in the United States – told an Israeli newspaper that up to 500 Israeli families would move into the neighborhood within the next decade.

The ILF has been behind several evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, including the attempts against the Shamasna family and the evictions of the Um Kamel al-Kurd, Ghawi, and Hanoun families in 2009.

400 Israeli families to move into Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah community b/c, says Israeli land director, no one cares https://t.co/g4GyeMYNEo

— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) August 25, 2017

(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)