Ramallah, Jan 18 (IANS): Palestine has warned Israel against evicting Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem.

"The Israeli attempts to evict the Salhiya family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood fall within the framework of forced displacement," said President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement, stressing that the actions contravened international and humanitarian law.

The statement said Israel's use of force for eviction and approval of building thousands of settlement units would escalate tensions in the Palestinian territories, reports Xinhua news agency.

The evacuation "might be a prelude to a process of forced displacement of dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem", the statement added.

Abbas called for the international community's immediate intervention to protect the Palestinian people and "put an end to the (Israeli) occupation policies".

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state, while Israel insists that all Jerusalem should be its eternal capital.

Sheikh Jarrah saw several confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police in the aftermath of an Israeli court's verdict to evict Palestinian families.