JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities on Sunday ordered the demolition of a Palestinian residential building inhabited by eighty Jerusalemite citizens near the Old City in occupied Jerusalem, reports say.
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Islamic Supreme Council in Jerusalem and Aqsa preacher was quoted by local media as saying that staff from the Jerusalem municipality notified the demolition of a building composed of 16 apartments, including his apartment, in the neighborhood of Sawwanah east of the Old City under the pretext of being built without permit.
Israel has demolished more than 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem since 1967, with 771 being pulled down between 2000-2011. A further 1,500 demolition orders are pending execution. ICAHD has presented the United Nations with its findings and demanded an inquiry, saying Israel targeted Palestinians by demolishing homes, revoking residency and eroding quality of life.
Earlier, Israeli border police demolished on Tuesday (February 5) a two-floor building in East Jerusalem housing 24 members of an extended Palestinian family.
Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed the area and surrounding West Bank villages into a Jerusalem municipality that it declared the united and eternal capital of Israel.
There are some 300,000 Palestinians residents in East Jerusalem, representing about 35 percent of the citys total population, but the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) said that since Israel took control of largely Arab areas it had systematically prevented their development.
One third of land in East Jerusalem was taken for the construction of Jewish neighborhoods, while only nine percent of the remaining land is legally available for housing. This has all been built on, making expansion impossible.
Meanwhile on the outskirts of Ramallah at Deir Jreer village in the West Bank, Palestinians accused Jewish settlers of vandalising vehicles and writing graffiti on an apartment building belonging to the Khamis family.
Preacher of the Aqsa Mosque stated that the Jerusalem municipality has always refused to grant Jerusalemites building permits, noting that only ten permits have been granted to Jerusalemites since 1967, while it allows the establishment of thousands of Jewish settlement units in the city. He called for a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic act to support the Jerusalemites and their rights and to promote the Palestinian housing projects.
The news was first published at thekooza *** com
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Islamic Supreme Council in Jerusalem and Aqsa preacher was quoted by local media as saying that staff from the Jerusalem municipality notified the demolition of a building composed of 16 apartments, including his apartment, in the neighborhood of Sawwanah east of the Old City under the pretext of being built without permit.
Israel has demolished more than 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem since 1967, with 771 being pulled down between 2000-2011. A further 1,500 demolition orders are pending execution. ICAHD has presented the United Nations with its findings and demanded an inquiry, saying Israel targeted Palestinians by demolishing homes, revoking residency and eroding quality of life.
Earlier, Israeli border police demolished on Tuesday (February 5) a two-floor building in East Jerusalem housing 24 members of an extended Palestinian family.
Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed the area and surrounding West Bank villages into a Jerusalem municipality that it declared the united and eternal capital of Israel.
There are some 300,000 Palestinians residents in East Jerusalem, representing about 35 percent of the citys total population, but the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) said that since Israel took control of largely Arab areas it had systematically prevented their development.
One third of land in East Jerusalem was taken for the construction of Jewish neighborhoods, while only nine percent of the remaining land is legally available for housing. This has all been built on, making expansion impossible.
Meanwhile on the outskirts of Ramallah at Deir Jreer village in the West Bank, Palestinians accused Jewish settlers of vandalising vehicles and writing graffiti on an apartment building belonging to the Khamis family.
Preacher of the Aqsa Mosque stated that the Jerusalem municipality has always refused to grant Jerusalemites building permits, noting that only ten permits have been granted to Jerusalemites since 1967, while it allows the establishment of thousands of Jewish settlement units in the city. He called for a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic act to support the Jerusalemites and their rights and to promote the Palestinian housing projects.
The news was first published at thekooza *** com
