Jerusalem is a lot like a volcano. A very active volcano, that is. Every so often it erupts and causes havoc. The international community is up in arms over Israel's perceived intentions to evict Palestinians from their homes to make way for Jewish "settlers". Most of the world disregards the fact that Sheikh Jarrah used to be a Jewish neighborhood known as Shimon Hatzadik, named after a Jewish high priest who lived in the third century BCE.
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But during Israel's War of Independence in 1948, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan occupied the eastern section of Jerusalem and expelled its Jewish inhabitants. At that time, no one in the international community condemned Jordan for pushing Jews out of their homes. Indeed, Jordan wasn't the only Arab state to push Jews out of their homes. Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled or were expelled from their homes in several Arab states. Where there were once large Jewish communities in Arab countries like Yemen, Iraq, and Libya, there are few if any Jews left. But again, no outrage from the international community.
The international community loves to make light of cases where Palestinians are supposedly pushed out of their homes to make way for Jewish "settlers", but doesn't bat an eye when Jews are pushed out of their homes to make way for Arab settlers. This is exactly what happened after the War of Independence, when the Jordanians, in cooperation with the United Nations, decided to unlawfully seize the land formerly owned by the Jews of Shimon Hatzadik and resettle it with Palestinians.
Shortly after Israel liberated east Jerusalem from Jordanian occupation, thus reuniting the city, the government passed a law allowing Jews to reclaim land that they lost on the eastern side of the city prior to the 1948 War of Independence. Israel was well within its right to allow the restitution of Jewish property. It is quite hypocritical for Israel's critics to demand that the Jewish state give back land and property supposedly taken from Palestinians, but at the same time, do not demand restitution for Jews who were robbed of their land or property by Arabs. Actually, it's more than hypocritical. It's antisemitism, pure and simple.
Caught in the middle of all this are the families living in Sheikh Jarrah, who had nothing to do with the decision by the UN and Jordan to put them where they are now. They were probably just happy to have homes. These people are victims, not of Israeli policy, but of the decision of the UN and Jordan to put them where they are now knowing that they had no legitimate right to that land. After all, who could have predicted that Israel would one day push the Jordanians out of east Jerusalem and reunite the city?
I would suggest that Israel promise not to evict the Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah or anywhere else in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria if Jordan would be so kind as to provide compensation to the Jews whose lands and property were wrongfully stolen from them by Jordanian authorities when Jordan was in control of the aforementioned territories. Let Israel put the ball in Jordan's court and see if the Hashemite regime, not to mention the rest of the Arab world, actually cares about the Palestinians, or if they just want another opportunity to shame Israel in front of the international community yet again.
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