A Palestinian condemns the Israeli demolition of two homes in Jerusalem

Occupied Jerusalem - SANA

In a prelude to the displacement of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem and its complete demolition, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the neighborhood today and demolished two Palestinian homes, assaulted those in them, displaced their residents, and arrested six of them, as well as 21 people in solidarity with their owners.

The occupation forces were not satisfied with that, but turned the surroundings of the two houses into a closed area and prevented Palestinians from approaching them..The demolition of these two houses belonging to the Salihiya family is nothing but a new attack in addition to the series of aggressive occupation practices against the Palestinians, especially in occupied Jerusalem, in an attempt to displace them from the city and besiege it with a settlement belt and dismember it And isolate it to impose a new reality and change its identity and Arab character and Judaization.

The Palestinian presidency condemned, in a statement carried by Wafa Agency, the demolition of the two houses, stressing that it constitutes a war crime, and called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and pressure the Israeli occupation to stop its policy of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and work to stop its continuing crimes against them, especially in Jerusalem.

She pointed out that the demolition, displacement and suppression of Jerusalemites witnessed by the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood puts the international community, especially the United Nations, on the line to translate his words into actions calling for the speedy provision of international protection for the Palestinian people who are subjected to a policy of racial discrimination that the world has never seen before.

Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh also condemned the crime, which falls within the policies of persecution, racism and ethnic cleansing against the original owners of the land in favor of the settlers, calling on the United Nations to intervene to stop these racist policies.

In turn, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed that the demolition of the two houses comes within the framework of the crimes committed by the occupation forces and its settlers in Jerusalem, with the aim of striking the foundations of the steadfastness of Jerusalemites, changing the historical, legal and demographic reality of the city, and completely isolating it from its Palestinian surroundings.

The ministry drew attention to the escalation of the occupation’s demolition of homes in Jerusalem, forcing its residents to demolish their homes themselves and handing them more demolition notices, especially in the town of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Among these practices is the separation of Palestinian towns from each other and turning them into isolated islands amid large settlement outposts within the plans of the Judaizing colonial occupation.

Fatah movement confirmed that the escalation of the occupation’s demolition of Palestinian homes, especially in Jerusalem, is a war crime and a crime against humanity, stressing that the crime of demolishing the homes of the Salhia family is added to the crimes of the occupation, its arbitrary practices, and its blatant and systematic escalating aggression that targets the presence of the Palestinian people on their land, which requires the international community and the United Nations Intervene to stop these crimes and hold those responsible to account.

For his part, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi al-Hadmi said that the crime of evacuating and demolishing the house of the Salihiya family combines forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, explaining that more than 100 of the occupation forces participated in the crime of demolishing the house in a brutal manner amounting to a war crime and a repetition of the catastrophe of the family’s displacement from Ein Karem in 1948. .

The Minister of Jerusalem Affairs pointed out that the demolition of the two houses after the forced displacement of their owners is a crime of ethnic cleansing under international and humanitarian law, pointing out that the Israeli criminal response to the positions rejecting the crime of eviction and demolition expressed by representatives of European and Western countries when in solidarity with the family calls on the international community to move quickly and urgently to provide International protection of the Palestinian people as a first step towards ending the occupation.

In turn, the Palestinian presidential advisor for Jerusalem affairs, Ahmed Al-Ruwaidi called on the International Criminal Court to move immediately to stop the policy of ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against the residents of the occupied city of Jerusalem, especially the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Al-Ruwaidi said: “Sheikh Jarrah and six neighborhoods in Jerusalem have been completely targeted, and we have assurances of the occupation’s intention to carry out extensive demolitions during the coming period. In the Al-Bustan neighborhood, they started demolishing the home of the Jalajel family, and in Sheikh Jarrah, the home of the Salhia family, and there are 100 homes in the Yasoul neighborhood that are threatened with demolition.”

Al-Ruwaidi explained that the occupation wants to break the will of the people of Jerusalem, but they are fighting an existential battle with all the available capabilities.

And the occupation authorities, in a crime that is added to their record of crimes against the Palestinians, during the past year, handed dozens of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Silwan town in occupied Jerusalem notices of demolishing or evacuating their homes in order to displace them from their land and replace them with settlers to implement their plans to Judaize Jerusalem.

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