About 50 armed Israeli officials break into the house of Ibrahim Ghozlan in the Silwan area south of the Old City of Jerusalem and forced five Palestinian families from the building.
A reporter for Ma’an News, stationed in the city, said that an Israeli extremist group is claiming that they own the building, but the Palestinian family who has owned the property for hundreds of years challenges that claim.
Several months ago, the family received a bill from the Israeli settlement society for $245,000 US, allegedly for living in the home since 1997. The settlers claim to own the home, and that they bought it from the brother of Ibrahim in 1923.
But the man from whom the Israelis claim they bought the land or the house from him was born in 1917, family members said, so it can’t be possible that he sold it when he was 6 years old.
Riyad Ghozlan told a Ma’an News reporter that the officials broke into the house after climbing the walls of the house and started forcing the residents to evacuate, "They came at eight in the morning, and told us we had to leave within an hour", he added.
In 1997, the settlers attempted to occupy the house but the Palestinian residents prevented them with the help of the house manager, who was at that time Faisal Hussiani.
