17 July 2010 - 19:30

The sit-in tent erected by the Salah family following the forced eviction from their home by settlers was demolished by Israeli forces on Thursday night, rendering an elderly couple homeless a second time.

Eighty-nine-year-old evicted resident Sheha Salah lost consciousness during the raid and was taken to hospital for treatment, family members said.

The tent was erected on Thursday afternoon, a week and a half after armed police accompanied a group of settlers and forcibly removed Sheha and her husband, 99 year old Hajj Ali Ibrahim Salah.

The settlers had a court order demanding the eviction, which was delivered on 28 April. By 4 May settlers moved into the home. Right-wing Israeli organizations supporting the settlement projects had told the courts that the land the home was built on belonged to Jews.

The couple, however, says the had lived in the home for their entire married lives - more than 70 years - noting settler court action "started in 1993, when settlers first alleged that they bought the land where our house is built."

Representatives of the Israeli national police forces could not be reached for comment by phone.

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