Last week we published a friend’s paraphrase of a United Nations report on a wave of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian houses that happened without a peep from the U.S. government. Well yesterday our friend passed along another gloss of a U.N. report:
Wednesday Israeli forces demolished several Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem. All of the demolitions were carried out by the Jerusalem Municipality. They included:
–Al Issawiye, a small building housing a printing business (200 Square Feet) and a larger building under construction, but near completion, that was to be a home for a Palestinian family of 8 people, including 5 children under 18. Both structures had received demolition orders and in both cases those affected were fighting the orders legally.
–In Sheikh Jarrah , the Municipality demolished the top floor, a residential unit of about 400 square feet, of a building on ‘Shimon Hatzadik’ street, leaving homeless a family of 5.
–The U.N. has also received several reports of a demolition of a small residential structure in Ras Khamees in Shufat Refugee Camp, unconfirmed.
The recent demolitions represent a sharp increase in demolitions, particularly in East Jerusalem. We expected the demolitions to increase after Eid, but these developments remain extremely concerning.
