OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (The Palestinian Information Center) Israeli police forces have ordered dozens of Palestinian families in the Baten al-Hawa area of Silwan, south of the al-Aqsa Mosque, in Occupied Jerusalem to evacuate their homes, threatening the displacement of nearly 300 people in favor of settler groups.
Jerusalemite sources said on Monday that residents of 37 apartments now face forced eviction under a settlement scheme pushed by the “Ateret Cohanim” association, which claims ownership of five dunums and 200 square meters of land in Baten al-Hawa, based on allegations dating back to 1881.
The plan targets between 30 and 35 residential buildings housing 80 families, roughly 600 people, who have lived in the neighborhood for decades with official documentation proving residency.
Zuheir Rajabi, head of the Baten al-Hawa neighborhood committee in Silwan, said 250 residents living in 26 homes received new eviction orders on Sunday from the Israeli central court, aimed at seizing their properties in favor of settlers.
He noted that an additional 11 apartments in three adjacent buildings belonging to the Rajabi families, Yaqub, Nidal, and Fathi, are now under immediate threat, putting about 60 people at risk.
Rajabi condemned the measures as “forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalemites to replace them with settlers,” vowing that residents “will remain steadfast in their homes until the very last moment.”
The Basbus family also received eviction notices for their homes, which shelter 30 people in Baten al-Hawa.
Family member Bilal Basbus said they have been engaged in a “battle for existence” for years against demolition and eviction orders targeting their homes overlooking the al-Aqsa Mosque.
He stressed that despite enormous challenges, the family refuses to abandon their homes or comply with occupation orders.
These latest eviction notices are part of a wider Judaization campaign aimed at driving Palestinians out of Jerusalem to make way for settlement groups.
Notably, the Basbus family’s grandparents were expelled from the village of al-Dawayima in 1948 by Zionist militias, and today, settler organizations are pursuing their descendants to displace them once again from their homes in Silwan.
