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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers early Tuesday occupied 23 houses in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan south of the Old City of Jerusalem, a local information center said.

Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement that "settlers of the Elad (Ir David) Association" stormed Silwan at 1:30 a.m. escorted by Israeli soldiers and forcibly evicted the residents of an apartment and occupied it, in addition to several vacant homes.

The houses belong to the Baydoun, al-Karaki, Abu Sbeih, al-Zawahra, al-Abbasi, al-Khayyat, Qarain and al-Yamani families, the statement said.

The Wadi Hilweh Center called the act an "unprecedented settlement attack."

"Even if the houses have been bought stealthily, this is still an illegal seizure of Arab houses by the Elad settlement association."

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld did not immediately comment on the incident.

Ir David Foundation is an organization that promotes a Jewish connection to parts of the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, including the "City of David" archaeological site.

East Jerusalem is internationally recognized as Palestinian territory, but Israel occupied it in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never considered legitimate abroad.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
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by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

A large group of extremist Israeli settlers, with members of the right-wing fundamentalist settlement group "Elad", broke into 23 Palestinian apartments in three buildings of Silwan town, in occupied Jerusalem, and seized them.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center, in Silwan, said that the attack started around 1:30 am, when dozens of settlers and soldiers invaded the town, and illegally took over 22 empty apartments, and one inhabited apartment after violently forcing the family out.

The Center added that dozens of soldiers and settlers were deployed in Wadi and Beidoun neighborhoods in Silwan, before breaking into the buildings.

The apartments belong to members of the families of Beidoun, al-Karaky, Abu Sbeih, Zawahra, al-‘Abbassi, al-Khayyat, Qara’in and al-Yamani.

The Center said the ownership of some of the apartments might have been leaked to the settlers through suspicious underground deals.

“The attack itself is illegitimate, carried out by Elad group, known for its agenda aiming at getting rid of the Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem,” Wadi Hilweh said. “The group is known for its illegal practices, and underground deals.”

It demanded the Palestinian Authority and all national and Islamic institutions to uncover and prosecute any person who acts on granting ownership of Palestinian buildings to fanatic settler-led groups.

The Center further said that the settlers fired rounds of live ammunition, following clashes in one of the occupied homes, after the locals kicked them out.

It added that there are currently 29 settlement outposts in Silwan, including 26 in Wadi Hilweh, and that the Elad group illegally occupied the first Palestinian home in 1987 before it conducted an extensive take over campaign in 1991.