RAMALLAH, November 17, 2016 (WAFA) – An extremist Jewish settlement organization is trying to forcibly evict Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan as part of a larger scheme to create a Jewish majority in the neighborhood, said a local information center.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said an attorney representing the right-wing Jewish group, Ateret Cohanim, handed several families in Silwan notices that they should evict their homes under the pretext the land was owned by Jews before the 1948 war when East Jerusalem remained under Arab control after Israel was created.

The center said Ateret Cohanim seeks to take over the homes of the Ghaith and Shehadeh families as part of a larger plan to seize 5,200 square-meters of land in the heart of Silwan, where several dozen right-wing Jewish settlers live among more than 40,000 Arabs.

The land in question consists of six plots and reportedly houses around 80 families composed of 436 individuals in about 35 buildings. The occupants have officially purchased their homes from their previous owners and have been living there ever since.

Ateret Cohanim, an organization aiming to create a Jewish majority in East Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian people, claims former members of the Jewish community in Yemen have owned the land in question since 1881. It also claims the Israeli High Court confirmed Jewish ownership of this land.

Zuheir Rajabi, who heads a local committee representing the area residents, said the Shehadeh and Ghaith families were handed nine notices by Ateret Cohanim ordering them to evict the premises. He noted that over 60 people would be displaced as a result of this imminent eviction.

He noted the families have been living on these premises since the 1960s before Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, noting that 80 Palestinian families have been living on the land in question after they officially purchased their premises from previous owners.

Since September 2015, a total of 71 Palestinian families have received eviction notices from Ateret Cohanim, said Rajabi. He said the families had responded to the lawsuit filed by Ateret Cohanim against them.

This came as a legal advisor for the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem said the municipality is going to ask the Israeli High Court to approve the demolition of 14 Palestinian homes in Beit Hanina neighborhood in East Jerusalem because they were built on alleged Jewish-owned land.

The municipality made this request after the court has upheld a decision to demolish Amona settlement outpost because it was built on private Palestinian land.

K.F./M/A.