The Jerusalem Center of Socio and Economic Rights warned of the escalation of Israeli demolitions in occupied Jerusalem, noting it bears the nature of a collective form of punishment. The targeted neighborhoods are Qalandia, Sur Baher, Silwan and al-Bustan, and dozens of houses near Israel’s separation wall.
Israel is stepping up its efforts to win the “demographic war” in the city of Jerusalem in order to prevent the likely possibility of becoming a minority-Jewish city as early as 2045, according to a recent report from the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Jared Kushner recently claimed Palestinians have “gotten more aid than any group of people in history, and what we have to show for it is really not much”. But he missed Israel. Israel beats Palestine on this count, and it’s much worse.
Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem in the first four months of 2019 have already exceeded the number in 2018, the UN reports, and 193 Palestinians have been displaced. On April 29th alone, 31 structures were demolished. The next day another four. On Friday, UN officials called on Israel to ‘immediately halt’ the policy.
In Shoshana’s latest installment, what she appreciates most about Ramallah on Thursday night (party night) is how committed her friends are to partying, with no hesitancy to dance, an appreciation of letting loose. Shoshana thinks it is a world away from the tension she often encounters in Jerusalem.
The underground excavations carried out by Israeli settlers beneath Palestinian buildings in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan have caused landslides following the last winter storm. One slide has undermined a wall on a playground, and could be life-threatening.
Dozens of Israeli ministers and lawmakers from Netanyahu’s and other right-wing parties signed a pledge to settle 2 million Jews in the occupied West Bank; and Israel has approved some 4,000 new settlement units. Many of these units are in Beit Hanina and Shuafat, Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
Food assistance in Gaza is suspended, hundreds of Palestinians face eviction in Jerusalem, and international monitors in Hebron are terminated.
In December, 39 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished or seized by the Israeli authorities, the same as the 2018 monthly average, displacing 56 people and affecting over 270 others.
Israel opened a new road in the central occupied West Bank on Thursday with an eight-meter wall separating Palestinian and Israeli traffic, leading many to deem the route “Apartheid Road.”