Occupied Jerusalem-SANA
The Israeli occupation has intensified demolitions in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank in an attempt to change its cultural and historical scene, the most recent of which is its demolition today of shops in the old central market in the city center as part of the occupation’s plans to Judaize the entire Hebron, including the Ibrahimi Mosque.
In a statement to SANA reporter, Hebron Mayor, Tayseer Abu Sneina, indicated that the demolition operations aim to expand the settlement outpost established in the old market, which the occupation is trying to link with the settlement outposts established in the city center in Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Al-Shuhada Street and the Ibrahimi Mosque surroundings, all the way to the two settlements established east of Hebron.
Abu Sneineh stressed that these attacks and violations constitute a crime against the Palestinians, calling on the international community and human rights institutions to stand up to their responsibilities and protect Palestinian property guaranteed in accordance with international laws and treaties.
The head of the Hebron Reconstruction Committee, Imad Hamdan, indicated that the occupation had built 6 settlement units in the old town, comprising hundreds of settlement units. The demolition and bulldozing operations in the town’s central market come within the framework of expanding settlements in this area listed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ) since 2017, and the goal is to change this scene completely in return for promoting settlement and continuing to displace Palestinians from their homes and preventing them from reaching their closed shops since 2000, which deprived hundreds of families of their source of livelihood.
Hamdan called on UNESCO and all international organizations to intervene urgently to stop the crimes of demolition and bulldozing carried out by the occupation authorities in the Old City, which is one of the most prominent historical and cultural landmarks in Palestine.
For his part, the coordinator of the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlement South of Hebron, Ratib Jabour, stressed that the aim of the demolition and bulldozing operations carried out by the occupation in the Old City of Hebron is to empty the town and its surroundings of Palestinians and to impose the siege on the Ibrahimi Mosque, and this is clear through closing hundreds of shops and seizing settlers Homes and real estate and the establishment of more outposts in conjunction with the continuation of the Judaization of the Haram, which has reached dangerous stages.
Jabour explained that the city of Hebron is subjected to intensive Judaization and settlement operations, especially the Old City and Masafer Yatta, in addition to the settlers’ initiation of building a settlement bypass road three kilometers east of Yatta and seizing hundreds of dunams to establish a new settlement outpost.
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, pointed out that the occupation is carrying out a systematic settlement operation in Hebron with the aim of establishing a settlement belt in the center of the Old City, passing through the Ibrahimi Mosque and linking the settlements inside Hebron with its surroundings with the aim of Judaizing the city completely and obliterating its Arab and cultural landmarks, explaining that the bulldozing and demolition operations in the market The Central Bank comes in the context of an ongoing settlement scheme whose criminal chapters have begun since the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994.
In July 2017, UNESCO included the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque on the World Heritage List, and this requires the organization to intervene urgently to stop the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the historical, cultural and human heritage in the city of Hebron.
Mohammed Abu Shabab
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