Jewish families moved into two homes in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood following the eviction of its Palestinian residents.
Jewish settlers were evicted from a home near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron without incident.
There is no place like home, and no one knows it better than the former Jewish settlers of the Gaza Strip. Evicted from their beachside villages on the shores of the lapping Mediterranean Sea, they are living this week out of hotel rooms, high school dormitories or in refugee-like tent camps.
Late last week, post-eviction, Ruth Etzion found herself wandering the streets of the Samaria settlement of Ofra, the home of her in-laws. Walking under tall pine trees in an almost trance-like state, Etzion, her husband Yaacov, and their three children reside in a two-room dormitory \”suite\” in the local religious girls school. It\’s a step down from their two-story home on the sandy streets of the isolated Gush Katif settlement of Morag.
But Etzion was content in some ways. For her, moving into the girls\’ school in August brought closure. Exactly four years ago that is where she and Yaacov got married.
A federal court trial, alleging that the Orthodox Jewish owners of a Pico-Robertson building evicted a tenant because he shared his apartment with a non-Jew, is scheduled to open in Los Angeles next week.
The suit by Lawrence \”Chaim\” Stein alleges that he was evicted in 2004 by the board of Torat Hayim, a nonprofit that is best known for its Pico-Robertson school and synagogue, but that also manages a handful of apartments.
Stein\’s central piece of evidence in the suit is a voice mail left on his phone answering machine by Michael Braum, one of the suit\’s defendants and the pro bono manager of the apartment in the 8800 block of Alcott Street.
\”I can\’t believe you rented to a goy,\” says the voice on the tape, which Braum has acknowledged as his in a deposition.
\”Two days after that, we get an eviction notice,\” Stein said.
Rejecting tenants based on religion is illegal. Braum noted in an interview that Torah Hayim\’s tenants include non-Jews. He insisted that the issue was not religion, but that Stein unilaterally changed terms of the lease.
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