RAMALLAH: The Israeli authorities handed notification to a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem, warning that their eight houses and a mosque are to be demolished since they lack the required building permits, a Palestinian foundation said on Tuesday.
The Al-Maqdisi Foundation said in a statement that the Israeli authorities informed the Joma'ah family that its houses and a mosque in the Jabal Al-Mukaber neighborhood are slated for demolition within 10 days. The foundation said that 51 citizens, including 33 children, are living in the houses.
Mo'ath Al-Za'tari, the director of the foundation, said that the Israeli authorities told the Joma'ah family that their houses are close to the separation wall Israel erected in the area in 2004.
Al-Za'tari added, "The demolition orders are part of Israeli efforts to transfer the Palestinians from Jerusalem to Judaize it." He called on Arab and Islamic countries "to intervene to stop the Israeli massacres against the Palestinians in Jerusalem."
The policy of house demolitions and settlement building in East Jerusalem are being used by the Israeli authorities and Jewish-dominated Jerusalem municipality to increase Jewish presence and manipulate the composition of the population in order to gain more control over the city prior to final status talks with the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state but Israel says the city is its eternal capital.
Palestinians say more than 2,000 houses in East Jerusalem have been demolished since its occupation by Israel in 1967, and several hundreds more are slated for demolition.
According to various estimates, Jerusalem has some 20,000 unauthorized buildings, home to around 180,000 people. The demolition of each house requires considerable legal efforts and a heavy police presence, amid fears that protests by residents and housing activists can escalate into riots.
The EU foreign ministers in early December urged Israel and the Palestinians to make Jerusalem their shared capital, prompting a swift, angry reaction from Israel.
On Monday, the Israeli Army issued an order banning the head of the northern branch of Islamic Movement inside Israel, Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, from entering Jerusalem for three weeks.
Salah is facing four indictments due to his participation in the Jerusalem clashes of 2007, which broke out in response to Israel's archaeological dig at the Al-Magharebah Gate near the Western Wall (Al-Buraq Wall).
He was arrested in 2003 and indicted on charges of contact with a foreign agent, for which he received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence. Over the years, Salah made numerous fiery comments to Arab news agencies regarding Israel's restriction on Muslims prayer at the holy site.
