US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt helped inaugurate a tunnel in an Israeli settlers’ archaeological dig under a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. Friedman said the tunnel confirms the Jewish presence in ancient times in Jerusalem, and Palestinians responded with outrage to the American officials’ participation.
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.
Israeli police and barking dogs woke Abdallah and Fatima Abu Nab from inside of the couple’s bedroom shortly after daybreak Monday morning, and told them to immediately and permanently leave their house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, bringing an end to an seven-year legal battle with Israeli settlers. This latest Israeli provocation took place in the heart of East Jerusalem where more than 40 Palestinians, and eight Israelis have been killed in shootings and attacks since the start of October.
Israeli police ransacked seven apartments and urinated inside one while demolishing the Silwan apartment of Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, 21, the Palestinian motorist from East Jerusalem who killed a three-month old Israeli-American Chaya Zissel and one Ecuadoran tourist in a light rail attack in Jerusalem on October 22, 2014. “They urinated on the mattresses in my brother’s apartment, said Enas al-Shaludi, 43, the mother of the deceased driver. “You can see the urine on the mattresses.” In addition to the demolition, which the family expected after receiving a demolition order last Friday, all of the other apartments in the four-story residential building were raided.