Silwan- an eviction notice for Odeh family from their building in the neighborhood of Batn Al-Hawa
The "Ateerat Cohanim" settlement organization handed over a legal notice to the sons of the late Saeed Odeh demanding them to evict the land on which their residential building is built in the Middle Neighborhood in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Wadi Hilweh-Silwan Information Center explained that the Ateerat Cohanim organization claims that the land on which the building of Odeh family is built is owned by the Jews since 1889.
Yaccoub Al-Rajabi, a member of the residents committee in Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan, explained to the Information Center that the judicial notices came in the name of the wife of the late Saeed Odeh and his sons and their wives, demanding to evict the land on which their four-story residential building is built (8 apartments) . He explained that nearly 50 people live in the building mostly children under the age of 18.
Rajabi added that the judicial notices gave the family 30 days to vacate the land. The committee would reach a specialized lawyer to obtain an order to cancel the eviction order and prove their ownership of the land.
Rajabi explained that the land is owned by the family of Odeh since the seventies of the last century after purchasing it from one of the residents of Silwan who owned the land since the fifties, and for many years the family was able to obtain the necessary permits from all Israeli authorities to build the building where they lived for 20 years which also proves their ownership of the land.
Ateerat Cohanim organization is seeking to seize the land of Odeh family (5200 square meters) and the neighboring buildings under the pretext of being owned by Jewish people. In September 2015, the organization began to hand over eviction notices, and the residents responded to the appeals against them.
Yaccoub Al-Rajabi warned of the seriousness of the judicial notices that Odeh family received, which could be the start of new series eviction notices in Batn Al-Hawa.
