On July 16, 2024, Israeli settlers broke into the Palestinian Abu Nab family’s home in Batn al-Hawa, one of the 12 areas that make up East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, and began renovation work, taking advantage of the fact that it was temporarily empty. Simultaneously, the Shehadeh family in Batn al-Hawa received an expulsion order, giving their 35-member family 20 days to leave their home or face forcible expulsion1 (see Israeli Courts Order More than 50 Palestinians Expelled from Homes in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah).

This came just a week after the Jerusalem District Court rejected appeals filed by 11 Palestinian families from Batn al-Hawa—greenlighting the expulsions of 66 Palestinians2 from their longtime homes so settlers could seize them and move in.

The court ordered the Abu Nab family as well as a second family, the Ghaiths, to immediately vacate their homes and pay NIS 10,000 (roughly $2,740) to the Jewish settler organization Ateret Cohanim for legal fees. Additionally, other Silwan residents including the Nasser and Kaid Rajabi families were given until January 12, 2025, to leave their homes and pay NIS 10,000 to Ateret Cohanim.3

After occupying the village of Silwan in 1967, Israel confiscated more than 73,000 acres of land to establish settlements and bypass roads. Ateret Cohanim claims that the houses in the neighborhood were owned by Yemeni Jews before 1948. In 2018, it opened the Yemeni Jewish Heritage Center in the neighborhood, claiming that a synagogue for Yemeni Jews had stood in the same place and bore the name “Honey House” in the past.

Since Ateret Cohanim’s takeover of the Benvenisti Trust, 14 Palestinian families have been expelled from Batn al-Hawa, and more than 700 Palestinians are at risk of losing their homes.

In addition to the above cases, 10 expulsion lawsuits against at least 12 homes are currently being deliberated in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Three families have already appealed to the Supreme Court after losing in the Jerusalem District Court. However, these cases have lagged for years after the Supreme Court requested in December 2022 that Israel’s attorney general provide its opinion on these cases, which has yet to happen.7

Moreover, Zuhair al-Rajabi, head of the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood committee, told Jerusalem Story that 87 orders to evacuate homes in Batn al-Hawa have also been issued to various Palestinian families. To add to the injustice, Israeli courts imposed a fine of up to NIS 5,000 (roughly $1,377) on each family due to their failure to attend court hearings that they didn’t know about while their cases were deliberated in 2016, which is a common occurrence. Israeli court notices and official letters addressed to Palestinians in the city have been known to disappear when they arrive at the East Jerusalem post office, as some employees tend to hide such mail.

Batn al-Hawa resident Nizam Abu Romuz, 45, shared with Jerusalem Story that, in his case, he never received a court notification and fears that expulsion orders will be implemented at any moment.8

“If the Supreme Court, God forbid, decides to expel us, we will certainly not leave this house in which we were born, raised in, raised our families in, and now our grandchildren live in it,” Zuhair said.9

He added that any strange movement in the street makes his family members anxious and fearful that the police might show up to arrest them.

Many of Zuhair’s family members suffer from chronic diseases and some are bedridden, live on oxygen support, and need daily care. Not only will a court order make them homeless, but it will also greatly impact their health conditions and potentially lead to fatal outcomes.

Hagit Ofran, codirector of Peace Now—Settlement Watch, estimates that around 100 Ateret Cohanim settlers currently reside in four to six houses in Batn al-Hawa.

“If the number of settlers rises to 200 or even more, then the whole character of the neighborhood is going to change,” Hagit told Jerusalem Story.10

Hagit explained that the Ateret Cohanim settlement in Batn al-Hawa is meant to connect to Israeli settlements in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, thereby forming a settlement ring around Jerusalem’s Old City.

“What Israel is doing is trying to disconnect Muslim and Christian holy sites from their surroundings,” Hagit said. “They want to disconnect them from the Palestinian domain and make them enclaves in Jewish domain.”

In summary, the Israeli state—in collaboration with settlers—is trying to turn the Old City, renowned for its cosmopolitan and diverse nature, into a strictly Judeo-centric space. And with legal backing from the state, Jerusalem’s demography is rapidly changing.

“The fact that the settlers moved into the house of the Abu Nab family a few days ago is also part of their feeling that they can get away with it. They’re winning,” Hagit said.

Ultimately, the ongoing expulsion of Batn al-Hawa residents is part of Israel’s larger campaign to Judaize Jerusalem and prevent any possibility of Palestinian statehood—an objective Israeli settlement experts have warned about for many years.

“What’s happening within Batn al-Hawa . . . completes this picture,” Amy Cohen, international relations director of Israeli nonprofit Ir Amim, told Jerusalem Story.11

“You seal off all of these areas, you evict Palestinians, you accelerate processes of displacement, you replace them with Jews, and then essentially you’re kind of predetermining the end game of the conflict,” Amy added.