Mounted police and foot patrolmen forcibly removed about 10 families from the abandoned Arab village of Lifta just outside Jerusalem Tuesday night. One man was slightly injured during the evacuation which was accomplished generally without violence.
The families moved into Lifta without authorization to protest what they said was the government’s failure to honor its promise to provide decent homes for slum dwellers. Yamin Swissa, Leader of the group, also led the Ohel Moreh (tent city) squatters who established themselves on unused State owned land on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem three weeks ago.
That group about 40 families from the depressed Katamon quartel, left voluntarily after the Jerusalem Municipality an the Israel Land Administration promised to allocate land elsewhere in Jerusalem for housing young married couples unable to afford homes of theirs own.
Swissa alleged that the Ministry of Housing and Construction reneged on its part of the bargain to provide the housing. A Ministry spokesman conceded that it did not favor the proposal. He said the Hosing Ministry has offered to assist young couples to establish a new settlement in Galilee but would not support an experiment in housing “whose success is doubtful.” The Jerusalem Municipality said, however, that it was willing to go ahead with the plan.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
