Israeli settlers take over two Palestinian buildings in East JerusalemArmed Zionist settlers took over two buildings in annexed East Jerusalem on Monday, a local group told Ma’an news agency.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that a group of armed settlers raided the neighborhood of Silwan at 2:00 am and occupied two buildings consisting of 10 apartments.
The owners of the buildings, Salah al-Rajabi and Imran al-Qawasmi, sold the properties to a Palestinian man identified as Shams al-Din al-Qawasmi, who in turn sold the buildings to Zionist settler groups, the center said.
The previous Palestinian tenants left the buildings over four months ago.
There are now four settlement outposts in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, the center said, increasing fears of a gradual Zionist takeover of the strategic area.
The Israeli news site Arutz Sheva quoted Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King as saying: "This morning the Jewish population in the Yemenite Village doubled," using an Israeli term to refer to Silwan.
He encouraged further Zionist settlement of the area.
In September, settlers occupied 25 houses in Silwan and forcibly evicted the residents of an apartment.
The incident led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Zionist settlers in the neighborhood, which is right outside Jerusalem's Old City and near the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Hoping to cement Israel's claim on all of Jerusalem, far-right Zionist have been paying top dollar for Silwan properties, often through Arab middle-men to circumvent Palestinian taboos on such sales.
East Jerusalem is internationally recognized as Palestinian territory, but Israel occupied it in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is systematic and often abetted by Israeli authorities, who rarely intervene in the violent attacks or prosecute the perpetrators.
Last week, during a tour of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque in Nablus, which was torched by Zionist settlers, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah slammed Israel for failing to bring to account Zionist settlers responsible for a recent wave of vandalism against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
"The Israeli government has never brought settlers to account for the terrorism and intimidation they commit [against Palestinians]," Hamdallah.
"Instead, it [the Israeli government] turns a blind eye, allowing settlers to kill, burn agricultural land and assault Palestinians and their property – even mosques and churches," the Palestinian premier added.
He went on to urge the international community to protect Palestinians from settler violence and pressure Israel to stop committing violations against occupied East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque.
In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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