Since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 Israeli authorities have worked to Judaize the holy city to prevent any future Palestinian sovereignty over it considering Jerusalem a unified capital of the State of Israel.
The occupation authorities use several methods to achieve their goals starting with isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank by building settlements and the apartheid wall canceling residency permits for Palestinians residing abroad economic marginalization and demolishing homes.
Home demolitions in East Jerusalem are rampant under the pretext of building without a permit or to make way for building commercial centers and roads with the aim of Judaizing the Holy City.
The Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi said that there are more than 20000 apartments threatened with demolition in Jerusalem.
He added during his participation in the International Symposium on Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque organized by the Presidency of Religious Affairs in the Republic of Turkey that “the occupation authorities demolished nearly 500 residential buildings in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) governorate during the past two years” explaining that the occupation municipality has significantly increased since the beginning of last year the policy of forcing citizens to self-demolish their homes.
Al-Hadmi indicated that the occupation authorities are escalating their settlement activities in Jerusalem by expanding the existing settlements and linking them through a series of streets tunnels and bridges aimed to consolidate the scheme of the so-called “Greater Jerusalem”.
Israeli occupation seeks to seize more Palestinian properties through the so-called “absentee property” law and to obliterate Arab and Palestinian landmarks which is a settlement project par excellence he stressed.
Geographical and demographic change
In an exclusive interview with the Palestinian Information Center the director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights Ziad Hammouri confirmed that the occupation authorities are working to demolish as many buildings as possible throughout Jerusalem in the context of the Judaization of the Holy City and the displacement of its residents in order to change its geographical and demographic features.
Hammouri stressed that the most important issue for the occupation is the displacement of Jerusalemites from Jerusalem; as the number of Jerusalemites today is about 320000 and they are working to displace more than 200000 Jerusalemites and to keep less than 100000 within the municipality’s borders and therefore they use all possible methods to achieve their goal: demolishing homes economic pressures and canceling residence permits in exchange for bringing more than 300000 Jewish settlers to Jerusalem.
He underlined that nearly 25000 homes are threatened with demolition by Israeli occupation courts throughout Jerusalem which is “a frightening and terrifying number we are talking about the displacement of nearly 100000 Jerusalemites in the event of the demolition of those homes was actually carried out.”
All the demolition decisions issued by the occupation courts come under the pretext of building without a license which is in violation of international law that requires the occupation to maintain the status quo in Jerusalem and to facilitate the lives of the residents.
He added that the occupation authority refuses to grant Jerusalemites the necessary building permits explaining that the Jerusalemite needs a period of time ranging from 8 to 10 years to obtain the very expensive building license.
Hammouri explains that the greatest fear for Jerusalemites today is the mass demolitions as there are many areas that have demolition orders for more than 100 homes in the same area such as Silwan Jabal Mukaber and the surrounding area at Qalandia Airport. He pointed out that demolition even threatens entire neighborhoods such as Al-Bustan neighborhood and Al-Abbasiya neighborhood.
Land robbery
Hammouri pointed out that the occupation authorities had robbed 87% of Jerusalem’s land leaving Jerusalemites with only 13% for construction adding that 35% of the stolen lands were allocated for the establishment of settlement neighborhoods while the remaining 52% were allocated for parks and playgrounds for the benefit of Jerusalemites but most of them were attached to settlements or projects were built on them to serve the settlers.
