In the Early morning hours of Wednesday, April 8^th 2021, about 100 colonists accompanied by massive army forces raided the central neighborhood in Silwan village, and entered three buildings, and a plot (half a dunum), and it later turned out that it has been sold to the colonial institution “Aterat Cohanim”[1] .

The three buildings belong to three families from Silwan. One of them belongs to Mustafa Abu Diab, and the other two belong to Abu ‘Awad family, each one of the buildings composes of 4 floors (each floor contains one apartment). All the buildings were empty, while the plot has a total area of half a dunums, belongs to Abu Sbaih family and have been sold.

Colonists entered the buildings and the plot and started making dramatic changes, they also installed a number of Cameras around the properties.

Previous owners of the leaked properties said that they sold the buildings to Palestinians and have no idea how did the properties got to the hands of Israelis. However, extended family of those involved announces disowning them.

‘Awad family who live in a neighboring building said that only 4 months ago, the buildings were sold to a well-known Palestinian families, and that one of the contract articles state that the new owners have to “Counsel ‘Awad family in future selling deal and not to sell to Jews” and pointed out that the contract is in the hands of the Attorney.

Noteworthy, ‘Aterat Cohanim Organization had used deceiving methods to take over a large number of residences in Silwan during the past years, most of which were leaked through illegal selling deals.

According to International Law , Jerusalem was Occupied Since 1967 , and the Occupation and Occupiers are not allowed to buy or sell at the city , even if the contract fulfills buying and selling conditions!

[1]Aterat Cohanim: A right-wing organization known of taking over Palestinian assets, it works in east Jerusalem , the organization’s main objective is to put Jew settlers in the heart of the Islamic neighborhood, and other Arab neighborhoods east Jerusalem

Protecting marginalized communities in Jerusalem through legal support and advocacy

This report was prepared with EU funding, the contents of this document do not reflect positions of the European Union