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A senior United Nations envoy has deplored Israel’s “unacceptable” evictions of Palestinian refugee families from the homes in East Jerusalem, stressing that the move only serves to amplify already high tensions and block progress towards the peace process.

Dozens of people registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) were forced out by Israeli security forces over the weekend from the Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, with Israeli settlers moving into their homes.

“These actions are contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions related to the occupied territory,” Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said in a statement issued yesterday in Jerusalem.

The evictions, he said, flout the united calls by the international community, including those by the diplomatic Quartet comprising the UN, the United States, the European Union and Russia.