Ateret Cohanim seizes two apartments for the Basbous family in Silwan
On Sunday, the settlement organization Ateret Cohanim seized two apartments belonging to the Basbous family in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, claiming the land was owned by Jews of Yemeni origin.
Settlers, accompanied by Israeli occupation forces, stormed the two apartments in a four-unit residential building, changing the locks and installing wire mesh on the windows.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem explained that Ateret Cohanim seized the two apartments belonging to the Jerusalemite brothers Raed Basbous and Mohammad Basbous, displacing ten members of the family.
In the same context, the Enforcement and Execution Department served eviction notices to Youssef Basbous and his son Raafat. It should be noted that the department typically grants a few days or weeks before evictions are carried out.
The Basbous family building is located within a settlement plan led by the Ateret Cohanim association, which aims to control an area estimated at about 5200 square meters in the Al-Hara Al-Wusta of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood, based on claims of land ownership by Jews of Yemeni origin since 1881. According to these claims, the land is divided into six parcels, and the association confirms that the Supreme Court approved the settlers' ownership of the land.
The Basbous family was served an eviction notice in their absence in early 2025 and filed an appeal. However, the District Court rejected their appeal last September. At the start of this year, they received a final eviction notice, prior to the Supreme Court's ultimate decision on the case.
The Basbous family confirmed that they purchased the land in 1963 and possess all the documents proving their ownership. However, the courts rejected these documents, arguing that the purchase was made by an entity that did not have the right to dispose of the land, which the courts classify as property belonging to Jews of Yemeni origin.
Since October 7, 2023, the occupation authorities have evicted 15 families from the neighborhood (Shehada, Abu Nab, Ghaith, Odeh, Shweiki, and Rajabi). Approximately 15 other families (Sarhan and Abu Nab) were also evicted in 2015. These families resided in apartment buildings containing multiple apartments per family, not just individual units.
