Activists in Jerusalem protest demolition policy

By Esat Firat

JERUSALEM (AA) - A group of Palestinian and Israeli activists protested Thursday against Israel’s demolition policy aimed at razing Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

They gathered at Peres Square in West Jerusalem near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence and chanted slogans against the policy as well as Israel’s violations against Palestinians.

Carrying placards with slogans expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, the activists called on Israel to end discrimination and to restore their rights.

On Monday, bulldozers accompanied by hundreds of Israeli soldiers moved into the neighborhood of Wadi Homs in East Jerusalem and began razing several buildings in the area.

Israeli authorities claim the buildings were constructed without a permit.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

In a move never recognized by the international community, Israel annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s “eternal and undivided” capital.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Middle East dispute, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem might one day serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

*Writing by Sena Guler