RAMALLAH, West Bank — Displacement threatens 86 Jerusalemite families, some 750 to 800 people living in 15 buildings in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of the east Jerusalem area of Silwan. Their houses are claimed by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization.

The situation in Batn al-Hawa is reminiscent of the events in Sheikh Jarrah, which fanned the flames of the recent armed confrontation between the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel from May 10 to May 20. 

Ateret Cohanim aspires to evict Batn al-Hawa's residents and make the neighborhood into a settlement linked to the outposts established in other Jerusalem neighborhoods. 

Silwan, located south of the Mughrabi Gate of the Old City, has been the site of intense settlement activity that started with the establishment of two outposts in 2004. In 2014, Jewish settlers bought several properties in the neighborhoods of Wadi Hilweh and Baidoun quarters in Silwan, as well as land in Batn al-Hawa. On April 8, 2021, settlers took over two residential buildings in Batn al-Hawa and a number of Palestinian properties were acquired by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization.