JERUSALEM — They moved under the cover of darkness, slipping into apartments in this east Jerusalem neighborhood in the middle of the night and changing the locks.
When the sun rose Tuesday, Arab residents of Silwan found Israeli security guards and young male volunteers hunkered down inside 25 apartment units in their impoverished neighborhood and an adjacent area — the biggest settler takeover since Jews began buying up properties in the volatile area two decades ago.
The organization that oversees Jewish settlements here calls them legal purchases in a hostile neighborhood, while Arabs and the international community see it as a nationalistic conquest in land Israel captured in 1967. And the practice has sparked yet another spat between Israel and the U.S., months after recent Mideast peace efforts once again failed.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the occupation of the properties “by individuals who are associated with an organization whose agenda, by definition, stokes tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.”
That organization, the Elad Foundation, says it has settled hundreds of Jews amid an Arab population estimated at about 30,000 in an area it calls the City of David, where Jewish tradition holds King David established Jerusalem as Judaism’s central holy city.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, as the capital of a future independent state. Israel vows that all of Jerusalem will forever be Israel’s capital. But the international community, including the U.S., does not recognize Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem and says the area’s fate must be resolved through negotiations.
Israeli officials have rebuffed the criticism, insisting that Arabs and Jews of the city are free to buy properties wherever they want.
“Definitely, Jews can buy apartments wherever they want in Jerusalem, and especially in the City of David, which is the place of ancient Jerusalem 3,000 years ago,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Israeli Channel 2.
Speaking to U.S. cable network MSNBC, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the White House statement deploring the Silwan move was “baffling” to him.
Elad long has attracted controversy because of its nationalistic agenda. But Elad says the area is central to Jewish heritage, and investment in the area has benefited Arab and Jewish residents alike.
About 500 Jews live in the area, and the newly purchased homes will allow for 200 more.
