US expresses 'serious concerns' to Israel over Jerusalem violence
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States had "serious concerns" over the Jerusalem clashes and the potential evictions of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The White House voiced “serious concerns” to Israel about the situation in Jerusalem over the weekend, highlighting the possible eviction of Palestinian families from an East Jerusalem neighborhood and continued confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police during the final days of Ramadan.
In a phone call with his Israeli counterpart on Sunday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States “encouraged the Israeli government to pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm during Jerusalem Day commemorations,” according to a White House readout of the call.
Sullivan told Israeli national security advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat on Sunday that the United States has “serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.”
More than 70 Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood live in homes that Israeli courts have ruled belong to Jewish settlers, saying they can reclaim what was the properties because they were owned by a Jewish organization prior to Israel’s founding in 1948. On Sunday, Israel’s highest court delayed an appeal hearing on the planned evictions of several Palestinian families.
