JERUSALEM, December 29, 2025 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israel’s high court on Monday issued rulings in two of four appeal files submitted by residents of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan, upholding a decision by the so-called central court to evict families from their homes in favor of the colonial organization Ateret Cohanim.
According to a statement by the governorate, the cases decided today concern the family of Abdel Fattah al-Rajabi, whose file includes two apartments housing two families with a total of 16 residents, and the file of Yaqoub and Nidal al-Rajabi and their brothers, which includes 11 apartments inhabited by more than 100 residents.
The high court has yet to rule on the remaining two files: that of Yousef al-Basbous, comprising four apartments housing around 20 residents, and that of Zuhair al-Rajabi, consisting of seven apartments with approximately 50 residents.
The Jerusalem Governorate stressed that the actions carried out by the occupation authorities in occupied East Jerusalem, through their agents from Zionist and colonial associations and their discriminatory courts, constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute. It said these measures represent an extension of a policy of ethnic cleansing embodied in the crime of forcible displacement, aimed at emptying the holy city of its indigenous population and replacing them with colonists.
The governorate noted that since 2015, the occupation authorities have evicted around 16 families from Batn al-Hawa. It added that citizens Khalil al-Basbous and Kaed al-Rajabi received eviction notices on January 5 and 6, 2026, respectively, and that the high court insisted on rejecting the appeals and upholding the eviction orders issued by the so-called central court.
It further explained that the colonial organization Ateret Cohanim bases its claims on alleged ownership of land in Batn al-Hawa dating back to 1881, covering an area of approximately five dunums and 200 square meters.
The Jerusalem Governorate said that the so-called Ateret Cohanim is among the most dangerous colonial organizations operating in occupied Jerusalem, having for decades led schemes to Judaize Palestinian neighborhoods, particularly in Silwan and the Old City, through the seizure of Palestinian properties by fraudulent means, relying on false pretexts and under the protection of a biased Israeli judiciary.
Batn al-Hawa is one of the most heavily targeted neighborhoods in Silwan by the occupation authorities and colonial organizations. Located about 400 meters from Al-Aqsa Mosque, it is home to approximately 10,000 Palestinian residents.
The governorate affirmed that these measures aim to reinforce colonial control over the surroundings of Al-Aqsa Mosque and link colonial outposts in Silwan, further deepening residents’ suffering and threatening their fundamental right to housing.
T.R.
