Silwan: The occupation gives three Jerusalemite families until October 19 to evacuate their homes
On Monday, the so-called Israeli Execution and Enforcement Authority delivered notices to three Jerusalemite families to vacate their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan in Jerusalem, giving them until October 19, 2025, to implement the eviction.
Zuhair al-Rajabi, head of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood committee, explained that Israeli Execution and Enforcement Authority staff delivered notices to the Odeh, Shweiki, and al-Rajabi families requiring them to vacate their homes by the specified date. Each family was also fined 370 shekels.
The properties threatened with eviction include:
• One apartment for the Odeh family
• A two-apartment residential building for the Shweiki family
• A three-apartment residential building for the al-Rajabi family
These apartments collectively house approximately 30 people.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem explained that the decision to evict the families was legalized by the Israeli Supreme Court in June 2025. It noted that all the threatened buildings and apartments fall within a settlement plan by the Ateret Cohanim Association, which aims to seize approximately 5200 square meters in the “Al-Hara Al-Wusta” of Batn al-Hawa, claiming that the land has been owned by Jews of Yemenite origin since 1881.
The center explained that this area is divided into six plots of land bearing specific numbers, and the association claims that the Supreme Court has approved their ownership by the settlers. The association delivered its first court notice to the families in 2016, followed by a series of court hearings, culminating in the issuance of the first eviction order by the Magistrate's Court in 2020.
The center added that the targeted land contains between 30 and 35 residential buildings housing approximately 80 Jerusalemite families (approximately 600 individuals), all of whom have lived in the neighborhood for decades after purchasing the land and properties from their previous owners under official documents dating back to the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
The center confirmed that the Ateret Cohanim Association has already succeeded in implementing several eviction orders against Jerusalemite families from the neighborhood over the past few years, including Shehadeh, Ghaith, and Abu Nab, as part of the same case related to alleged ownership claims.
The center noted that Israeli courts issued a series of eviction orders in September, threatening to evict 37 apartments housing more than 300 individuals, placing the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood at the most dangerous stage of forced displacement.
