Jordan Provides Jerusalemites with Old Documents to Prevent Their Deportation

Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated on Friday against the expulsion of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from their homes (dpa).
Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated on Friday against the expulsion of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from their homes (dpa).
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Jordan Provides Jerusalemites with Old Documents to Prevent Their Deportation

Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated on Friday against the expulsion of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from their homes (dpa).
Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated on Friday against the expulsion of the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood from their homes (dpa).

Jordan has provided great assistance to the Jerusalemites by revealing old documents confirming rental contracts dating back to 1956, which could help prevent the deportation of residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Jordan’s official Al-Mamlaka channel reported that Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi conveyed on Wednesday a message from King Abdullah II to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, stressing the country’s firm support to the Palestinians and their rights, adding that Jerusalem “is a red line” for the monarch.

East Jerusalem was subject to Jordanian sovereignty like all other West Bank cities, before Israel occupied it in 1967, in a move not recognized by the international community. At that time, Jordan built housing units for Palestinians who sought refuge in East Jerusalem after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and documented their residency with lease contracts.

The documents, published by the Jordanian foreign ministry, shows that 28 families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood were displaced due to the 1948 war.

The Jordanian move comes after media reports said that an Israeli court granted Palestinian families a deadline that expires on May 2 to evacuate their homes.

In comments during a visit to Ramallah on Wednesday, Safadi said: “We have provided all the documents available to us that can help Palestinian citizens preserve their full rights.”

He also noted that his country was coordinating with the international community to prevent the deportation of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.

The Jordanian minister stressed the need to encourage an “international action capable of stopping the unilateral Israeli steps that undermine the two-state solution, specifically building and expanding settlements and deporting residents from their homes.”

On the other hand, the Jordanian message to the Palestinian Authority carried details of ongoing efforts to revive serious negotiations for a two-state solution, as well as a Jordanian confirmation of support for Palestinian rights in establishing a Palestinian state and in holding elections, including in East Jerusalem.

Safadi said that regional and international developments, especially with the arrival of the new US administration and the positive indications that it has made, “require us to interact positively” for this purpose.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.