JERUSALEM, March 29, 2016 (WAFA) – The so-called Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem and the Israeli nature and parks authority Tuesday demolished a children’s playground, a wall and stable, as well as uprooted around 30 fruitful trees in an area in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan.

Khaled al-Zeir, one of the local owners, informed WAFA that staff from the Israeli municipality, backed by Israeli armed soldiers, bulldozed a playground, and a defensive stone wall, without any prior notice.

Meanwhile, staff from the Israeli nature and parks authority uprooted around 30 fruitful trees, including citrus, olive, and apple trees.

Forces also knocked down a horse stable belonging to local Adam Samreen, as well as destroyed a barbed wire fence surrounding the property.

To be noted, forces demolished al-Zeir’s house twice in a matter of two years; it was first demolished in 2013, and later rebuilt and demolished again in 2014. The house used to shelter him and his family of eight members, all of whom are currently living in a cave in his land.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights center, said, “Since the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities have promoted the twofold goal of expanding the city’s Jewish population and reducing its Palestinian population.”

“Various steps have been adopted to achieve this objective, including the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, land appropriation, and discriminatory policies on planning and construction and budget allotment.”

The Israeli Community Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) stated, “The demolition of Palestinian homes and other structures, forced or resulting displacement, and land expropriation are politically and ethnically motivated.”

It explained that, “The goal is to development and confine the four million Palestinian residents of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza to small enclaves, thus effectively foreclosing any viable, contiguous Palestinian state and ensuring Israeli control and the “Judaization” of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

“Israel pursues a concerted policy of land expropriation, demolitions, forced evictions and discriminatory development, displacing Palestinians and introducing Jewish inhabitants.”

Following a February 2012 visit to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik concluded that in the West Bank the territorial fragmentation and the severe deterioration of Palestinian standards of living are furthered by decades of accelerated expansion of Israeli settlement units that expropriate land and natural resources.

According to the United Nations OCHA, “During January [2016] the Israeli authorities intensified the destruction and confiscation of Palestinian properties in Area C and East Jerusalem on the grounds of lack of building permits.” “The properties targeted included items provided as humanitarian assistance to Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Jerusalem area who are at risk of forcible transfer.”

T.R.