The building had been inhabited by veteran Lehi fighters following the 1967 Six-Day War and had remained the sole Jewish building in an otherwise Arab neighborhood. Concerned that as the elderly Lehi veterans die the Jewish hold on the building would be weakened, ZFA activists began to move into apartments left vacant by deceased tenants. One of the ZFA activists who moved into the building told Israel National News that his move was in response to the international community pressuring the Israeli government to halt Jewish development in East Jerusalem.