On 1 December 2009, a group of Israeli settlers, accompanied by armed guards, entered and took control of a part of the home of the Rifka Al Kurd family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

The group proceeded to empty the home of its contents, throwing furniture and personal belongings of the family out on the street.

❝The settlers are not living in my house permanently. They come in groups, dance, pray and swear against us. Then they leave again, and others come after a while.

❝I can’t see what is going on inside the house because they covered all the windows with cardboard and Plexiglas. I can’t go close to the house because there are cameras all around and the police would come if I tried to.

❝We often are physically attacked: they sent my daughter, who is aged 50, to the hospital four times.

❝They know she has heart problems and they always hit her close to her heart.

❝Once, if it had not been for a neighbouring doctor who rushed and helped her, she would have died.❞