LONDON: Israeli forces forcibly evicted three Palestinian families from their homes in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, located in occupied Jerusalem, in a measure to seize their properties.
The Al-Shweiki and Odeh families were evicted from an area south of the walled city of Jerusalem. Israeli security forces cordoned off the area and blocked roads. Asmahan Al-Shweiki, one of the homeowners, fainted and was hospitalized during the eviction, according to Wafa news agency.
“We were surprised today when Israeli police stormed the house and emptied its contents,” Ahmed Al-Shweiki, whose home was also seized, told Wafa.
He added that he was also physically assaulted, and suffered bruises and injuries during the incident.
Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli settler group founded in 1978, claims ownership of about 0.5 hectares and 200 sq. meters in Batn Al-Hawa.
About 750 Palestinians from 87 families reside in Batn Al-Hawa. All face eviction orders from Israeli courts. Similarly, dozens of families face evictions in the adjacent Silwan, where Israeli authorities have been building an underground route in the neighborhood as part of the “City of David” tourist attraction.
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governorate said the evictions are “part of a systematic Judaization plan supervised by settler organizations with direct support from the occupation government, aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians and expanding settlements in the heart of the neighborhood.”
Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, authorities have allowed Jewish settlers to reclaim properties that were historically owned by Jews during Ottoman and British rule, including in Sheikh Jarrah and the Old City.
However, it denies Palestinians their right to return, as outlined in a UN resolution, or to reclaim their private properties that their families left during the 1948 war.
