Israeli organisation trying to force Palestinian families out from their Jerusalem homes: Report

Residents of a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood close to the Old City of Jerusalem are facing the prospect of being forced out of their homes, according to a report in The Guardian on Monday.

Zohair Rajabi, 55, and his extended family live in their four-storey home in Batn al-Hawa that his grandfather built on land he bought 60 years ago. 

The neighbourhood in East Jerusalem has been a target of an Israeli organisation for decades, which has been working to seize control of parts of Jerusalem after the 1967 war. 

Hundreds of Palestinians have been targeted, and some have already been forced to leave. 

Palestinians make up almost half, 40 percent, of the population of Jerusalem, according to official numbers, but unofficial numbers put the number much higher. Successive Israeli governments have been working to increase the city's Jewish population.