OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Palestine Foundation Information Center)In a move widely condemned as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign, the Israeli High Court of Justice has issued a ruling to evict the Al-Rajabi family from their home in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, just south of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The court ordered the property be handed over to Israeli settlers.
Local sources said the decision aligns with the Israeli occupation’s broader policy—backed by its far-right government—of forcibly displacing Palestinians from Jerusalem, especially in areas near the Old City, in favor of illegal settlement expansion.
The ruling threatens the displacement of 30 members of the Al-Rajabi family and comes amid a wave of similar legal actions targeting Palestinian families in Silwan. The neighborhood, home to around 60,000 Palestinians, has become a central focus for settlement groups aiming to take control of key areas in occupied Jerusalem.
One such group is Elad, a radical settler organization founded in 1986 by former Israeli army officer David Baray. With full backing from the Israeli government, Elad has already seized 87 Palestinian buildings in Silwan over the past several years as part of a growing settler encroachment strategy.
Zuhair Al-Rajabi, head of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood committee, warned that 87 Palestinian families—totaling between 700 and 800 individuals—are currently facing eviction under similar legal pretexts.
“These rulings are not about law or justice,” Al-Rajabi said, adding, “Israeli courts are working hand-in-hand with settler organizations to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes and erase our presence in Jerusalem.”
Human rights organizations have long documented the use of the Israeli legal system to retroactively justify settler claims on Palestinian properties.
The eviction order against the Al-Rajabi family is the latest example of what Palestinian officials and international observers describe as an apartheid legal system designed to serve settler interests and alter the demographic and cultural character of the city of Jerusalem.
