Israeli settlers seize land belonging to Greek Orthodox church

Residents and witnesses told local media that dozens of settlers stormed the five-dunum (5,000 sqm) piece of land in the Palestinian Silwan neighborhood south of the Old City early in the morning.

The settlers then fenced it off and installed surveillance cameras with the protection of the police.

Silwan residents rushed to the scene to stop the land confiscation but were assaulted by security forces. Three young Palestinians were arrested, according to local media.

"They beat everyone - men, women and children,” witness Mohammed Sumerian said and added, "They arrived early in the morning while people were still asleep and they took the land."

The land is owned by the Greek Orthodox Monastery in Silwan, which is part of the city's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, according to Wadi Hilweh Information Center, which monitors Israeli violations in the area.

The Sumerian family have been farming and guarding the land for 70 years under a leasing agreement with the owner.

Silwan, home to more than 60,000 Palestinians and strategically located south of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall, has been the target of Israeli settler expansion for years.

Hundreds of families in Silwan are facing the threat of expulsion, either through lawsuits by powerful settler groups or through administrative eviction orders by the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality, which is seeking to build tourist parks themed around biblical stories and figures.

Israel's control of East Jerusalem, occupied since 1967, violates several principles under international law, which stipulates that an occupying power has no sovereignty in the territory it occupies and cannot make any permanent changes there.

Activists fear the land in Silwan owned by the Greek Orthodox church is particularly vulnerable to being seized by settlers.