FRA approves establishment of five new firms for investment fund management, SME financing    Sukari Gold Mine showcases successful public–private partnership: Minister of Petroleum    Egypt's Environment Minister attends AMCEN conference in Nairobi    Egypt considers launching national platform to mobilise green financing for private-sector industrial transformation    Egyptian, Belarusian officials discuss drug registration, market access    Egypt's ARC, Italy's AICS sign deal to boost wheat production    Gold prices edge higher on July 16th    Egypt stocks hit record highs in 2025 as reforms fuel rally: Cabinet    Egypt condemns Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Syria    Syria says it will defend its territory after Israeli strikes in Suwayda    Pakistan names Qatari royal as brand ambassador after 'Killer Mountain' climb    Health Ministry denies claims of meningitis-related deaths among siblings    Egypt's Health Min. discusses drug localisation with Sandoz    Egypt, Mexico explore joint action on environment, sustainability    Needle-spiking attacks in France prompt government warning, public fear    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt, France FMs review Gaza ceasefire efforts, reconstruction    CIB finances Giza Pyramids Sound and Light Show redevelopment with EGP 963m loan    Egypt's PM urges BRICS to prioritise peace    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Israeli demolitions in occupied Jerusalem
Published in Ahram Online on 29 - 06 - 2021

On Tuesday morning this week, the Israeli authorities began the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Bustan neighbourhood of the Salwan district of Occupied East Jerusalem.
The 21-day grace period that the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality had given dozens of families in Bustan ended on Sunday. During that period, the municipality had offered the residents a choice: either they could demolish their own homes with their own hands or they could let Israeli demolition teams do it and then pay them for it.
The first building to be targeted was a shop belonging to local Palestinian resident Nadal Al-Rajabi. Israel military and police patrols, escorting a bulldozer, raided the quarter on Tuesday morning and cordonned it off. The bulldozer then razed the structure and awaited orders to move on to others. According to the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), the demolition of the shop was to facilitate access to homes slated for demolition.
Residents and supporters clashed with the Israeli military, which beat them with truncheons, wounding several. Other protesters were arrested and taken in for questioning.
The approximately 70 donum (18 acre) Bustan neighbourhood is inhabited by approximately 1,550 native Jerusalemites. Nearly half of them are members of the 86 families who face violent eviction from their homes for the benefit of Ateret Cohanim, a Jewish settler society working to promote the Judaisation of Arab neighbourhoods in the occupied city.
The municipality claims that the homes it wants to destroy were constructed without a permit in 2004, a year in which it demolished the homes of dozens of Palestinian families in the same area. This time, some of the dispossessed family homes will be demolished to make way for a tourist attraction.
In 2021, the municipality presented plans to create an archaeological park called Gan Hamelekh (The King's Garden), claiming that the area was the site of a garden that belonged to Israelite kings a few thousand years ago. Initially, over 22 homes were identified for demolition for this purpose.
However, soon afterwards, the Palestinian residents were notified that their whole neighbourhood was to be torn down, and the order led to the ongoing protests. According to WAFA, Palestinian families in Jerusalem face over 33,000 demolition rulings, while the Israeli government issues construction permits for hundreds of thousands of illegal settler units. Successive Israeli governments have prohibited Palestinians from building on 86 per cent of the land in Salwan, a neighbourhood covering around seven square km (6,540 donums / 1,600 acres) in Occupied East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has appealed to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, to prioritise cases the Palestinian government has brought before the ICC, underscoring the urgency of commencing investigations into the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against Occupied East Jerusalem in the light of the immediate plight of the hundreds of families in the Sheikh Jarrah and Salwan districts facing forced displacement.
Palestinian missions in New York and Geneva are submitting periodic reports to the UN secretary-general, the chairs of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to keep them updated on developments and discuss the best means to implement the recent UN Security Council Resolution calling for the creation of a permanent commission of inquiry to monitor and report on rights violations perpetrated by Israel.
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed that the state of Palestine was fully prepared to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council. It also urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to act to protect Palestinians threatened by eviction. It warned that the Israeli occupation was exerting extreme pressure on the lives and well-being of Palestinian residents in Jerusalem in order to break down their resistance, preparatory to displacing them from their homes for the benefit of Jewish extremist groups and settler societies.
The arbitrary home demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah and Salwan are part and parcel of the Judaisation of the Holy City and the evacuation of native Jerusalemites, the ministry said, adding that the Israeli government must bear full responsibility for the consequences of the home demolitions, forced displacement of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem and the ongoing process of ethnic cleansing which is punishable under international law.
According to Ahmed Al-Ruweidi, an adviser to the office of the Palestinian president, Israel has accelerated its plans for the Bustan neighbourhood. He warned that the Israeli occupation plans to clear native residents from the Old City and replace them with Jewish settlements that will form part of the settlement ring encircling Jerusalem.
"We have asked the ICC, which has jurisdiction over the illegal settlement question, to speed up its investigatory processes." Al-Ruweidi said. "It is unacceptable that people have to face demolition and displacement on their doorsteps while the ICC has not even begun the steps to initiate investigations of the crimes that fall under its responsibility."
Meanwhile, residents in Bustan have erected tents for a sit-in to protest against the impending destruction of their homes. Large groups of Palestinian and foreign supporters have begun to rally in an attempt to focus attention on Israeli practices in the area.
Initially, the new government in Israel seemed caught between its commitment to Israeli settler plans in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and other occupied territories and its desire to ward off international and, above all, American anger. However, it soon yielded to the pressures of the extreme right and pressed ahead with steps initiated and encouraged by the former government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza described the occupation power's actions against Palestinians in Jerusalem as "flagrant aggression" and an attempt to toy with dangerous and unpredictable issues. "The resistance is vigilant and alert to what the occupation is doing in Jerusalem," a Hamas official statement said. "It will not allow the occupier to persist in the policy of gnawing away at Jerusalem bit by bit in order to complete the process of Judaisation. The resistance's options for retaliation against the occupation are open."
Israeli actions in Salwan in Occupied East Jerusalem present a new challenge to the durability of the current truce between the Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel. The latter has been manoeuvring to evade its commitments under the ceasefire agreement and dragging its feet on lifting the blockade on Gaza.
The situation in Salwan is adding to the powder keg that threatens to disrupt the current calm, just as the Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque precinct and the Israeli violations in Sheikh Jarrah generated the sparks that ignited the last war between the Palestinian factions and Israel in May.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 1 July, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly


Clic here to read the story from its source.