国际英语新闻:Israeli settlers seize houses in Palestinian east Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Jewish settlers, escorted by heavy police force, took over at least seven empty buildings in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem overnight Tuesday, according to eyewitnesses and local human rights organizations.

The buildings are located in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan, just some 300 meters across from the volatile area of the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Jewish Western Wall.

A few Palestinian youths hurled stones at the force, a spokesperson with the police told Xinhua. One of them attempted to enter one of the seized buildings, but failed.

A youth settler, identified only by his initial "A", told the Jewish Press, a U.S.-based right-wing news website, that a group of some two dozen young settlers came to Silwan at around 2:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT) and entered homes which Jewish settlers have allegedly purchased recently.

"A" said the move was made as part of "a strategy to show an immediate presence" following the purchase. He added that the group intended to stay there "for another day or two," before settler families will take permanent hold of the apartments.

Ir Amim, an Israeli human rights watchdog, told Xinhua that the seized structures include an existing Palestinian house and a newly constructed house the settlers claim to have purchased, in addition to recently built floors on top of the existing homes, where Palestinian families live.

The "Wadi Hilweh Information Center -- Silwan," a news site maintained by Silwan activists, said the settlers also took over one inhabited apartment after "violently forcing out" a Palestinian family who lived there.

Silwan is already home to about 50 Jewish settler families who live there under heavy guard. Over the past two decades, Elad, a far-right settler group, has taken control of dozens of homes in the neighborhood. Palestinians claim the homes were acquired via indirect deals, with the owners not knowing they sold their home to Jewish settlers.

Silwan is located in east Jerusalem, a territory that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed in a move which has not been recognized internationally.

The far-right Israeli radio Arutz Sheva hailed the operation as "a victory for the Jewish presence in Jerusalem."

However, Yariv Oppenheimer, general director of Peace Now, a non-governmental organization monitoring the development of settlements, accused the Israeli government of "adding more fuel to the fire" during a particularly tense time in east Jerusalem. He added that such moves may shatter "any chance for peace in Jerusalem and the region."