Israel evicts two Palestinian families from Silwan homes amid East Jerusalem 'Judaisation'

At least two Palestinian families have been evicted from their homes by Israeli authorities in the Palestinian district of Silwan, in East Jerusalem.

The Odeh and Al-Shweiki families were forcibly removed from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood after having lived there since the 1970s.

A total of 14 Palestinians, including children, are now facing homelessness as a result of the eviction order, with their possessions also seized in the process.

The incident saw Asmahan Al-Shweiki, a woman in her seventies and one of the evicted residents, collapse as Israeli police raided the neighbourhood. During the ordeal, Israeli forces, deployed in large numbers, had closed off the main road leading up to Batn al-Hawa.

The Palestinian woman was later taken to hospital for treatment, while others were assaulted and sustained injuries during the raid.

An eviction notice was issued to the families, demanding they leave by 19 October. Their lawyer, however, succeeded in extending the deadline to 30 November, but their evictions still went ahead.

"We were surprised today when Israeli police stormed the houses and emptied them of their belongings," Ahmed Al-Shweiki, one of the evictees, told the Palestinian Wafa agency.

The evictions were reportedly carried out in favour of the Israeli organisation Ateret Cohanim, which supports having a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem’s Arab neighbourhoods.

Ateret Cohanim has been working to evict Palestinians from the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood under the pretext of the houses being previously Jewish-owned, speaking on behalf of the Benvenisti Trust.

The Trust was founded in the 1890s and built houses for Jewish immigrants from Yemen in Silwan. During the Palestinian revolt between 1936 and 1939, these houses were abandoned. Over 700 Palestinians from 87 families have lived there since.

In 2001, the Ateret Cohanim was named on the Trust, prompting the Custodian General to transfer 5.2 dunums of land to the organisation. Since then, Ateret Cohanim has evicted dozens of Palestinian families in an attempt to judaise the neighbourhood, and paved the way for Israelis to settle in their homes. Batn al-Hawa’s remaining residents are all at risk of having the same fate.

The Free Jerusalem organisation protested the incident on Sunday. The NGO, founded to fight Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, said: "As Jerusalemites, we have no choice but to stand in solidarity with our neighbours against the attempt to expel them from the city for further settlement projects."

"Those who are promoting Jewish supremacy in the city and right-wing organisations have been operating quickly over the past two years, but there are still many Jerusalemites willing to fight for a just, equal and diverse city."

The organisation described the incident as a demonstration of Israeli and Jewish apartheid in the city. "We will fight it. Solidarity with Silwan," they added.

East Jerusalem has been the site of forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes over the years, notably in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, which captured global attention and triggered fierce criticism in 2021.

Forces destroy Palestinian home, settlers uproot olive trees

In another move, Israeli authorities destroyed the home of Palestinian prisoner Maher Samara on Sunday, in a raid on the West Bank town of Burqin. Bulldozers entered the town and demolished Samara's two-storey home. Samara has been detained since May this year "on charges of resisting the occupation", Burqin's mayor Faed Sabra told The New Arab’s Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Additionally, Israeli settlers have continued their rampage in the occupied territory, destroying olive groves and trees amid the ongoing harvest. Settlers uprooted around 70 saplings in Khirbet al-Taban, in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, local activists said.

Israeli acts of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have witnessed a significant uptick since the start of the war in Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by forces or settlers, and over 20,000 have been arrested since October 2023.