DayofPal– The recent drone suicide attack on Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, orchestrated by Hezbollah, has cast a spotlight on the various homes of the Israeli Prime Minister and the places he frequently travels to.
This marks the first time that resistance movements have attempted to target the Israeli Prime Minister residence since the conflict began decades ago.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz featured a report titled “Three Families and Sheikh Jarrah,” in which it reveals the true history of the house where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resides in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” also published an article stating that Netanyahu lives in a stolen home originally belonging to Palestinian doctor Tawfiq Kanaan, who was forced to flee the house during the Palestinian Nakba in 1948.
The article details how a Jewish family from the United States arrived in Occupied Palestinian territories in 1949, only to discover they had nowhere to call home.
During this period, occupied Jerusalem was rife with confiscated properties, as many Palestinians had been either forcibly removed or had fled from the western part of the city due to the bombardment.
The custodian of confiscated properties of the expelled Palestinians gave the jewish family an empty house to settle in. By the end of 1959, the family bought this residence for just 16,500 lira—a striking bargain for a villa that measured 581 square meters right in the city center.
This was particularly notable given that a three-room apartment in Bat Yam was priced at 32,000 lira during that period.
The parents of the Jewish family passed away, leaving the house to their two sons. One son sold his 50% share for 4.24 million shekels, while the other son, Benjamin Netanyahu, retained the remaining half.
Recently, Netanyahu has returned to use the home, which is considered a stolen Palestinian property, with the rightful owner believed to be the late Dr. Tawfiq Kanaan and his heirs.
In a proposed compromise, the writer of Haaretz article suggested handing over the Kanaan family home on HaBourtsim Street to the Salem family residing in Sheikh Jarrah, in exchange for the Salem home being given to the Netanyahu family.
He argued that this would be a beneficial step both humanely and legally!
Dr. Tawfiq Kanaan was a well-known physician and researcher with a long history in medicine and Palestinian folklore. His family suffered from looting and destruction during the Nakba and has been unable to return to their lost home.
The Salem family has lived in Sheikh Jarrah for 70 years, but they now face eviction from their home in favor of Jewish settlers. This situation has arisen due to a series of discriminatory laws and legal manipulations within Israel.
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