Israeli colonists seize Palestinian homes in Jerusalem

Ramallah: Israeli occupation forces aided a Jewish colonist group to occupy two Palestinian homes in the occupied east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Monday.

The occupation forces handed the two houses belonging to the Abu Nab family to Ateret Cohanim, a Jewish colonist group working to establish a Jewish majority in occupied east Jerusalem.

Palestinian activists in the holy city who requested anonymity said that several Israeli soliders raided the house and kicked out the family.

The occupation soldiers threw all of the family’s furniture out onto the street and handed over the homes to the colonist organisation.

The entire Silwan neighbourhood erupted in anger after the illegal home seizure. The Jewish group claims the house was once a Jewish synagogue before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 which kicked out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their own land.

Israeli colonists often create false historical stories to lay claim on Palestinian property.

Ateret Cohanim secured a court ruling to take over the two properties under the pretext that the Abu Nab family changed the structure of the houses by adding more stories.

It his nearly impossible for Palestinians in occupied east Jerusalem to secure any type of building construction permit which forces families to illegally expand their homes to deal with their expanding family sizes.

Israeli authorities use the technicality as a pretext to seize or destroy Palestinian homes.

Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli colonists raided Al Haram Al Sharif on Monday and performed religious rituals at the Muslim holy site.

A colonist youth group organised the raid to mark the first anniversary of the stabbing of the Israeli rabbi Yehuda Glick who is a fierce campaigner for expanding Jewish access to Al Haram Al Sharif.

“Today’s raid was meant to send a message that the colonists will enter the holy site whenever they want,” said Palestinian sources.