JERUSALEM, June 23, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli Jerusalem municipality continues its extensive judaizing operations near Damascus Gate, one of the Old City’s most renowned gates, as well as in Sultan Suleiman street, adjacent to the Old City’s walls.

The first operations launched by the municipality and termed as “infrastructure restoration and area development” included the setting up of a large fence around the targeted area between Damascus Gate and Herod’s Gate (Bab el-Amoud and Bab al-Sahira in Arabic, respectively). The name of the historic Solomon’s Cave was changed to “Yahu’s Cave” and Sultan Suleiman Street changed to Yahu Street, within the framework of judaizing the names of streets and monuments in occupied Jerusalem - removing their Arabic names and replacing them with Hebrew ones in order to negate the Palestinian heritage of the city.

Israeli crews also removed many olive trees in the context of changing features of the area and giving it a Talmudic character according to plans made public by the Israeli municipality. The plans include the establishment of Talmudic parks in areas adjacent to the historical Wall of Jerusalem, where there is currently accelerated work near Herod's Gate, while renaming the Umayyad palaces south of Al-Aqsa mosque as “The Temple Cleansers”, referring to the alleged temple that a large group of extremist Jewish organizations has sought to build in place of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jerusalem is a contentious issue between Israel and the Palestinians, who maintain that the city is the capital of the future Palestinian state. No country in the world recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and many United Nations member states formally adhere to the UN proposal that Jerusalem should have an international status.