JERUSALEM, Tuesday, August 02, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli police today razed several warehouses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to WAFA correspondent.
She said that Israeli police and municipal crews escorted a crane into the neighborhood, where the municipal crews tore down several warehouses belonging to the Abu Hadwan family purportedly for being built without a license.
In an interview with the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Essam Abu Hadwan said that a police handed him the demolition order at 8:45 AM and started the demolition at 9:00 AM without allowing him any time to remove his belongings.
Police, Hadwan added, blocked all the ways leading to the stores, pushed residents away, and smashed vehicles parked nearby as the municipality staff sabotaged toilets, dismantled the iron wall top railings and seized the display fridges and stands.
He pointed that his family has been using the warehouses since they were constructed in 1974.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as "residents" whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.
They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel's separation wall.
According to a report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the Israeli High Court could be liable for war crimes for their policies that led to the dispossession of Palestinians from their properties in Area C of the West Bank.
The report, Fake Justice, shows that the court’s support of Israeli planning policy is tantamount to support for dispossession and forcible transfer of Palestinians, a war crime under international law.
K.F.
