Israeli colonists take over residential building in Jerusalem neighborhood

JERUSALEM: Israeli colonists today took over a Palestinian-owned residential building at Batn al-Hawa in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to the Shehadeh family. They said that the Israeli Supreme Court turned down an appeal they had submitted, allowing the colonist organization Ateret Cohanim to seize the five-floor residential building under the pretext that the plot of land the building is built on have belonged to Jews from Yemen since 1881. WAFA correspondent added that the occupation forces sealed off all streets leading to the building, simultaneously as colonists broke inside it. He added that the gun-toting soldiers brutally assaulted members of the Shehadeh family and forcefully prevented them from reaching it. The Ateret Cohanim colonist organization claims that 5 dunams and 200 square meters of land in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood have belonged to Jews from Yemen since 1881, and since 2015 the organization has begun delivering orders and judicial notices to families in the neighborhood to 'evict' them from their houses. Palestinians have maintained their the Israeli occupation authorities decision to 'evict' the families from their houses in favor of colonist groups is politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel's efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians. Since the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel in June 1967, Israeli colonial organizations, namely Elad and Ateret Cohanim, have claimed ownership of Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Backed by the Israeli state, judiciary and security services, these organizations have been working on wresting control of Palestinian property and convert it into colonial outposts as part of the efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in the city, as well as on managing archaeological sites in Silwan and overseeing their excavation. This scheme involves building new colonial tourist sites, such as the 'City of David', to bolster their propaganda. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA