JERUSALEM,  Mar. 21 (JMCC) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon met with Palestinian families evicted from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, at the Notre Dame Hotel on Saturday.

Maher Hannoun, Nabil Kurd and his daughter Jenny were thrown out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers in 2009.

We gave the international delegation an overview of the case of Sheikh Jarrah and the families living there, said Maher Hannoun. We asked the United Nations to seriously intervene to stop the settlements and the demolition of houses in the city of Jerusalem and evacuate the settlers from the houses. And we asked him to help families who have been unable to return to their homes by the presence of the settlers.

The UN Secretary General promised the Hannoun and Kurd families to follow up on the matter and work to stop settlement activity in occupied Jerusalem.

Twenty-eight Palestinian families live in Sheikh Jarrah as part of a joint project between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordanian government in 1956 to provide housing for Palestinian refugees.

The eviction orders, issued by Israeli courts, are the result of claims made by Jewish organizations that the properties were originally owned by Jews before 1948, although such evidence is contested.

Another Palestinian family, the al-Gawi's, were also evicted from their home in Sheikh Jarrah. The family has been residing in a tent on the sidewalk across the street from their home, now occupied by Jewish settlers.

The al-Gawi's are supported every week by a growing movement of protesters demonstrating against home evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.