Palestine has called for designating Israeli settler organisation Ateret Cohanim and other similar groups as terrorist organisations 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 organisations 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 illegal Jewish settlement building in occupied East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City.

The ministry said the group has been leading plans for decades to Judaize Palestinian neighbourhoods, 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 expel the Shweiki and Odeh families from their home in Batn al-Hawa, Silwan, on Sunday in favour of Ateret Cohanim.

The statement reaffirmed that illegal 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 state, based on international resolutions that do not recognise Israel’s 1967 occupation or its 1980 annexation of the city.