At the request of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli municipal and security authorities intend to demolish 42 Palestinian homes soon in Occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian towns in Israel.
According to a Hebrew website close to the Israeli army dozens of Palestinian homes as well as different structures would be razed in Israel Jerusalem and the Negev as part of a plan launched recently by the Israeli government to remove buildings labeled as illegal.
It is noteworthy that these Palestinian homes and buildings which Israel classifies as illegal have been built on Palestinian-owned plots of land but the Israeli authorities make it hard or impossible for their owners to obtain construction permits in order to justify their demolition later.
Initially the Israeli authorities said it would demolish seven Palestinian buildings and homes next Tuesday and Wednesday and 35 others later.
The Israeli police for their part said they notified Palestinian owners of two homes in Wadi Ara town northwest of Haifa district of orders to demolish them claiming they were constructed illegally.
Last Thursday the Israeli municipality also threatened to knock down homes belonging to five Palestinian families in Issawiya district east Jerusalem.
Israel already practices a systematic demolition policy against Palestinian homes in Israel and all occupied areas but Netanyahu decided recently to escalate this policy after Palestinian landowners managed to extract an Israeli court verdict ordering the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Amona outpost which was established illegally with help from the Israeli government on privately owned land in the West Bank.
Netanyahu who seeks to vent his anger by demolishing Palestinian homes affirmed during a recent meeting with senior security officials including internal security minister Gilad Erdan and general commissioner of the police Roni Alsheikh the need to enforce the law equally between Jews and Palestinians.
For his part head of the Joint List (Arab parties) Ayman Odeh accused Netanyahu of trying to punish the Arab population in Israel and make them pay for the expected evacuation of Amona outpost.
This development came after the Israeli high court of justice rejected a new request filed by the government to delay the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona on December 25.
All Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank including annexed east Jerusalem are illegal under international law.
