Israel razes 2 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem

By Anees Bargouthi

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli municipal authorities on Tuesday demolished two Palestinian residential buildings in East Jerusalem.

Ahamad Abu Al-Hawa, the owner of the two buildings, told Anadolu Agency that Israeli bulldozers razed the houses in Jerusalem’s Al-Tour neighborhood on claims of being built without permits.

He said 20 people, half of them children, were living in the demolished buildings, which were built on an area of 700 square meters.

There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the report.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming Jerusalem as the unified capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.

According to Israeli figures, some 320,000 Palestinians currently live in East Jerusalem while more than 270,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements that have been built in the area.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Israeli settlement building on the land to be illegal.

Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" Jerusalem with the aim of effacing its Arab and Islamic identity and driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.