RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Palestine called Monday for designating Israeli settler organization Ateret Cohanim and other similar groups as terrorist organizations over their efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians from their areas in the occupied West Bank and Judaize East Jerusalem.

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged states to “include Ateret Cohanim and all settlement organizations involved in displacement and settlement crimes on their national terrorism lists, and to impose sanctions on their members and funders in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions.”

Founded in 1978, Ateret Cohanim seeks to promote Jewish settlement building in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City.

The ministry said the group has been leading plans for decades to Judaize Palestinian neighborhoods, especially in Silwan and the Old City, by seizing Palestinian homes and properties through fraudulent means and false claims.

It condemned the Israeli government’s decision to evict the Shweiki and Odeh families from their home in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan, on Sunday in favor of Ateret Cohanim.

The statement reaffirmed that Israeli settlement activity and forced displacement of Palestinians constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, based on international resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s 1967 occupation or its 1980 annexation of the city.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.