’Israeli’ Settlers, Soldiers Occupy 25 Palestinian Houses

Local Editor

"Israeli" police guarded settlers as they occupied dozens of homes in a Palestinian neighborhood of occupied East al-Quds Tuesday while stunned and angry Palestinians looked on.

The homes in Silwan, which sits in the shadow of al-Quds Old City, were purchased by Elad, a pro-settlement group that uses funds from Zionist supporters in the United States and elsewhere to buy properties in Palestinian districts.

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

Tuesday's move was the largest purchase of homes in Silwan since the process began in the neighborhood in 1986, taking to 26 the number of settler-occupied properties, local officials said.
Around 90 settler families, totaling 500 people, live in Silwan among some 50,000 Palestinians. "Israeli" police protect them.

"This is a government by the settlers for the settlers," said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief peace negotiator, calling the move an attempt to erase Palestinian identity.
"It serves the objective of altering the character of al-Quds through isolating, containing and confining Palestinian existence, allowing for more "Israeli" land-grabs."

Residents of Silwan, a tightly packed neighborhood of winding streets on the side of a hill, acknowledged Tuesday there is little they can do to stop settlers from moving in.

At one house, Khaled Karaeen, 62 and a father of six, sat with his head in his hands in the courtyard of his home, edgily flicking worry beads, unable to believe what had happened.

"They want to make a joke of us," said Fadi Maragha, a local representative of the Palestinian political party Fatah, who said he had come to offer support to the family. As he spoke, a muezzin made the call to prayer from a nearby mosque.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team