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Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Israeli authorities threatened to forcefully evict a Palestinian family from its home in east Jerusalem on Monday after a lengthy standoff. Members of the Salhiya family had threatened to burn the home down rather than be removed from it, reported Middle East Eye.
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The home's owner, Mahmoud Salihiya also threatened to set himself on fire at one point.
"I will sleep next to the gas canister, I will not leave the roof of the house," he told Middle East Eye.
The family bought the home in the 1950s in the city's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, according to the Palestine News Agency.
Negotiators were brought in, and the standoff between the family and Israeli troops lasted more than 10 hours.
Dozens of other families in the area are in a similar position after an Israeli court ruled they must vacate their homes to make way for Jewish settlers.
A 1972 lawsuit contended Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah were occupying land that originally belonged to Jews.
