The Israeli District Court in occupied Jerusalem has ordered the removal of a Palestinian family from their residential building in Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, in Silwan town, to replace them with colonialist settlers.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that the court ruled in favor of Ateret Cohanim colonialist organization, that claims ownership of the land.
Silwanic stated that the Rajabi family filed appeals with the court after receiving eviction orders in the year 2016 and has been trying to prove its ownership of the land and the building.
The building is a three-story structure, with three apartments and houses sixteen Palestinians, including children, seniors and persons with special needs.
It is worth mentioning that, in the year 2015, 84 Palestinian families in Batn al-Hawa neighborhood were informed by the District Court of several lawsuits filed on behalf of Ateret Cohanim, demanding their removal from their building and lands.
Silwanic stated that Rajabi family has several residential buildings on more than five Dunams of privately-owned lands in Batn al-Hawa, located on basins #97, 76, 95, 88, 75 and 72.
Ateret Cohanim is claiming the lands are owned by Jewish settlers, living in Batn al-Hawa, while the families, living in 35 buildings have official deeds of ownership of the lands that were purchased from their owners dozens of years ago.
The colonialist organization claims that the Israeli High Court has ruled in favor of Jewish colonialist settlers from Yemen, granting them ownership. The court claims the lands were owned by the illegal colonists before the year 1948.
