Ethiopian immigrants protest evacuation from absorption center
Protesters call for permanent housing solutions, saying they can’t make ends meet.
Ethiopian immigrants protest in the Israeli capital against the looming evacuation of their absorption center in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, July 10, 2017.. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Some 100 Ethiopian immigrants protested in the capital on Monday against the looming evacuation of their absorption center in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion.
The scheduled evacuation, set to take place is less than two months, is the result of a decision by the owner of the land, the Jewish Agency Employees’ Pension Fund, to sell it to private individuals. Three years ago, it was revealed that the agency had transferred the land to its pension fund in place of money that it owed.
The concerned parties reached an agreement at court that gave the tenants three years to evacuate.
Those three years are almost up, but the lawyer who represents the absorption center tenants, Nadav Haetzni, has appealed to the court for another three-year extension, arguing that promises to provide the tenants with permanent housing solutions have, for the most part, not been fulfilled.