JERUSALEM, Wednesday, December 15, 2021 (WAFA) - Israeli settlers today fenced off a plot of  land in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, said WAFA correspondent.

She said that a group of Israeli settlers braged their way into the neighborhood, where they installed barbed wires around the plot of land as a prelude to seize it.

The landowner, Ibrahim Salem, told WAFA that he was surprised to find out that settlers had broken into his land and fenced it with barbered wire.

He added that when he and his mother attempted to confront the settlers, they were physically assaulted.

He added that Israeli authorities handed him an order to “evict” his 200-square-meter house, inhabited since 1948, allowing him until the end of the current month to carry out the order.

The neighborhood has become a scene of massive protests against Israel’s settler-colonialism in the occupied territories since the Israeli occupation authorities decided to forcibly expel dozens of families from their houses in favor of colonial settler groups.

Palestinians have maintained that the Israeli occupation authorities decision to “evict” the families from their houses in favor of the settler groups is politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians.

Since the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel in June 1967, Israeli settlers colonial organizations, including Elad and Ateret Cohanim, have claimed ownership of Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Backed by the Israeli state, judiciary and security services, these organizations have been working on wresting control of Palestinian property and convert it into colonial outposts as part of the efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in the city, as well as on managing archaeological sites in Silwan and overseeing their excavation. This scheme involves building new colonial tourist sites, such as the “City of David”, to bolster their propaganda.

K.F.