Palestinian citizens of Israel protest against expulsion from Jaffa homes

Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered in the city of Jaffa south of Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against Israel's plans to expel 1,400 Palestinian residents of the city, the Palestinian Authority's official Wafa news agency reported.

Israeli authorities are attempting to expel Palestinians from their homes under the Absentees' Property Law of 1950, which has been used to ethnically cleanse areas to make way for Israeli settlers.

"Absentee property for indigenous residents, not for investors" and "uprooting inhabitants and Judaising the city is a timebomb", read placards held by the protesters.

The demonstrators called for Israel's Palestinian citizens - who make up around 20 percent of the country's population - to stand against Israel's plans. The protests have been taking place weekly, according to Wafa.

Jaffa is today home to around 15,000 Palestinians; a sharp decline from the pre-Nakba period. Zionist militias expelled more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948, making way for the establishment of the state of Israel.

Palestinians who remained and became citizens of Israel have experienced long-standing institutional discrimination and violence.

Attacks on the community escalated in 2021, when they staged a rare uprising in solidarity with Palestinians living in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.