Last Wednesday, the day after Election Day, the Elad organization took control of two large, populated and sensitive compounds in two East Jerusalem neighborhoods, Silwan and A-Tur (on the Mount of Olives).
Elad members intend to put between 15 and 20 families there.
‘Our goal is to hold on to outposts in East Jerusalem and create an irreversible situation in the sacred basin around the Old City,’ said Adi Mintz, a member of Elad's management board.
Elad is one of two nonprofit organizations working to purchase houses and settle Jews in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, particularly in the Old City and Silwan.
Mintz called the move ‘a significant achievement’ for Elad, and refused to say whether prime minister-designate Ehud Olmert was apprised of the details.
‘There's no significance to the timing being right after the elections,’ Mintz said. ‘Olmert was always among the supporters of the Jewish nonprofits in East Jerusalem.’
Only a week ago, at a conference organized by Machon Yerushalayim, Othniel Schneller, former secretary general of the Yesha Council and a new Kadima MK, said that his party maintains that the Old City and the ‘sacred basin’ - which includes Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, City of David (Silwan - M.R.) and Sheikh Jarah - will remain in Israel's hands under a permanent peace agreement, whereas the ‘outskirts neighborhoods’ like Shoafat, Anata and Abu Dis will remain in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.
‘We want to have a separation between us and the Palestinians who do not live in the heart of Jerusalem,’ said Schneller. The two compounds are located in the ‘sacred basin,’ as Schneller defined it.
The first compound is a pair of three-story apartment buildings on the Mount of Olives in A-Tur, not far from the Seven Arches Hotel and overlooking the Temple Mount. It was home to two families. This is the first time that Jewish nonprofits have succeeded in entering A-Tur, one of the largest neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
The fact that these buildings are located on the hill overlooking the Temple Mount worries the Palestinian residents.
‘We'll go to court, and if we don't succeed, we'll destroy this house. We'll figure out a way,’ warned Palestinian youths as they stood across from the buildings last weekend.
The buildings in A-Tur belong to the Abu al-Hawa and Kiswani families. On Wednesday, after Elad's security guards entered both buildings, rioting broke out in the neighborhood and a restaurant belonging to a member of the al-Hawa family was torched. Palestinian sources said that one family member had been abducted to Ramallah for interrogation by the Palestinian security forces. In an effort to secure his release, the family published an announcement in an East Jerusalem newspaper last Friday, claiming that the buildings were not sold to Jews directly, but to Palestinian buyers who, in turn, sold the property to a Jordanian investment company.
Mohammed Abu al-Hawa, a family member, told Meir Margalit of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions that late Tuesday night some people showed up at his apartment in one of the two buildings, opened a suitcase full of cash and offered $300,000 for his apartment. Abu al-Hawa says he declined, after which the unknown individuals showed him a contract stating that the two buildings had already been sold, including the apartment he lives in. He says that his mother's signature on the contract had been forged.
Mintz denied the allegations and said the deal was completely above-board.
‘The Arabs love to sell,’ he said. ‘It's true these transactions take time, but that's only for reasons of the sellers' image,’ he explained. Mintz claims he knows nothing about a family member abducted to the PA, but stressed that Elad provides protection for the Palestinian sellers.
The second compound is in Silwan: three buildings, located very close to the City of David, from which 30 members of the Gozlan family were evicted with their belongings last Wednesday morning by the Bailiff's Office. The compound is currently empty and being guarded by Jews. The property has belonged to the Jewish National Fund since the 1920s, but the family built their home there before the Six-Day War. More than a decade ago, the JNF initiated legal proceedings to vacate the Gozlans on the grounds that the family is not a protected tenant. The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 in the JNF's favor, but the family remained.
Ownership was passed to the Israel Lands Administration, which said it could not say to whom it was later transferred. Mintz says the property belongs to Elad, which intends to put families there shortly.