Dear High Representative Vice-President Kallas,
Dear EU Special Representative on Human Rights Ollongren,
We, undersigned Members of the European Parliament, write to you to urgently engage with Israeli authorities in order to stop forced evictions and house demolitions of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem. Just in few days from now, seven families from the Batan al-Hawa neighborhood – a total of 42 people – are at imminent risk of losing their home, after having received an eviction order imposing to leave their house by 17 May.1
As highlighted by human rights organisations2 and UN agencies, there has been a further escalation of demolitions, forced evictions, displacements and land dispossessions against Palestinians since the start of this year. According to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate, Israeli authorities demolished 185 structures in East Jerusalem in the first four months of 2026. Approximately 2,200 people in Silwan are facing an imminent threat of forced displacement – 90 families (700 individuals) in Batn al-Hawa3 and 150 families (1,500 individuals) in al-Bustan4 – due to Israeli planning and zoning laws and policies that are applied unlawfully and are discriminatory against Palestinians5, and which support the efforts by Israeli settlers to take control of this area.
As these are forced evictions and therefore constitute gross violations of a range of human rights under international law6. As also denounced by UN experts7, forced evictions and displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem must be seen as part of a pattern by Israeli discriminatory policies and practices aiming at irreversibly “de- Palestinising” East Jerusalem, thus undermining international efforts aimed at stabilization and the advancement of peaceful efforts in the region, notably the two-state solution.
As seven other Palestinian families in Batn Al-Hawa are at imminent risk of forced eviction this week8 and many other families in Batn Al-Hawa and Al-Bustan face such risk any time soon, we request you to urgently raise these cases with Israeli authorities and urge them to:
- Refrain from forcibly evicting the concerned individuals, families and communities in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; stop the demolition of privately owned and residential structures belonging to Palestinians, including punitive home demolitions, as well as the forcible transfer of Palestinian inhabitants and the revocation of residency permits of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem through discriminatory laws.
- Freeze the implementation of the government’s decision to complete land registration – formally known as settlement of land title (SOLT) – in East Jerusalem by 2029, which has placed Palestinians at an unprecedented risk of dispossession and displacement9, as only 1% of the land that went through the SOLT procedure has been allocated to Palestinian landowners.10 Freeze the application of discriminatory laws used to dispossess Palestinians within the framework of SOLT, namely the Absentee Property Law and the Legal and Administrative Matters Law11, with a view to repeal or review them.
- Repeal the recent Israeli Security Cabinet’s amendments to the land registration and property acquisitions procedures. As already acknowledged by the EU High Representative Kallas and Commissioners Šuica and Lahbib12, these measures are counterproductive and incompatible with international law13.
Freeze the establishment and expansion of illegal settlements14, as a major driver behind Israeli authorities’ plans to annex further Palestinian land and push Palestinians away from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
MEP, Chair of the DROI Sub-Committee, Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA)
MEP, Marta Temido (S&D)
MEP, Villy Sovndal (Greens/EFA)
MEP, Chair of the CULT Committee, Nela Riehl (Greens/EFA)
MEP, Chair of the DEVE Committee, Barry Andrews (Renew)
MEP,Brando Benifei (S&D)
MEP, Matjaž Nemec (S&D)
MEP, Cecilia Strada (S&D)
MEP, Chloé Ridel (S&D)
MEP, Wouter Beke (EPP)
MEP, Robert Biedroń (S&D)
MEP, Rima Hassan (The Left)
MEP, Sirpa Pietikainen (EPP)
MEP, Pierre Jouvet (S&D)
MEP, Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Palestine, Lynn Boylan (The Left)
MEP, Danilo Della Valle (The Left)
MEP, Hana Jalloul Muro (S&D)