Israeli High Court Rejects Shepherd’s Hotel Appeal

On April 2, 2012, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected an appeal by the Husseini family against the Shepherd’s Hotel being turned into a new settlement in East Jerusalem.   The site was once the headquarters of Haj Amin al Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem during World War II, who was notoriously a Nazi sympathizer.  The descendents of Husseini have offered to give up claims to the site so that it can be turned into a center of coexistence and inter-cultural dialogue.

As some may recall, early on January 9, 2011, bulldozers arrived at the site of the Shepherd’s Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah and began demolishing the hotel (here and here).  On 1/10/11 an Israeli court refused to grant an injunction filed by the Husseini family to stop by demolition.  For background on this new settlement project, please see our July 22, 2009 analysis (in response to final approval of the project) and our March 24, 2010 analysis (in response to the issuance of building permits for the project).