In the early morning hours on Thursday, 15 Jewish families moved into three new buildings located in the strategic Shiloach (Jewish Silwan or Yemenite Village) neighborhood.

The entry operation to the three buildings had to be carried out during the night in order to limit the danger from neighborhood Arabs who have been known to respond violently towards Jewish families in the Shiloach.

Prior to the operation, Daniel Luria Executive Director of Ateret Cohanim said the following:

“We are about to move into the Yemenite Village into three buildings – something we haven’t done in maybe about forty years. There is over 100 guys here. There are guards, electricians, workers. We have been working on these buildings that are very strategic and very important. The Yemenite Village as you know has 21 families in six buildings. But these very important and vital buildings are a link between the Maale Zeitim (Mount of Olives) neighborhood and the existing buildings in the Yemenite Village.”

The entry was carried out over night in conjunction with the Jerusalem police and relevant agencies and completed with little or no violence reported. As the sun rose, the 15 families moved in, nearly doubling the amount of Jewish families in the area.