Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat threatened Wednesday to demolish thousands of Palestinian homes in East Occupied Jerusalem if the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona is evacuated Haaretz reported.
The Israeli Jerusalem municipality asked for 14 demolition orders for the homes of some 40 Palestinians in Beit Hanina which Barkat claimed were built on private Israeli land.
“Unless Amona is legalized we’ll have to destroy hundreds or thousands of houses in Jerusalem too” Barkat said.
“The Amona verdict leaves us no discretion to legalize building offences” he said.
The demolition orders Barkat asked for are for homes in the Beit Hanina neighborhood allegedly built on land privately owned by Israeli settlers and run by the General Custodian’s office.
Barkat asked for the demolition orders following the High Court of Justice ruling this week to evacuate and destroy the structures in illegal Amona outpost which was built on private Palestinian land.
