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Israeli Police Destroy Nine Houses In Arab East Jerusalem
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| Israeli police seize Palestinian protester trying to prevent his home being demolished |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Jan. 14 (News Agencies) - Israeli police bulldozed nine houses in the Arab neighborhood of Al Isawiya in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem Monday.
Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters who tried to prevent bulldozers from demolishing their homes.
The demolition came amid a furious row over the destruction of up to 55 Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah by the Israeli occupation army, which aid and U.N. groups say left hundreds of Palestinians homeless in mid-winter.
"The court demolition orders came at 10:30 pm on Saturday," a resident of Al Isawiya told Agence France Presse (AFP).
"The demolition orders are usually slipped under the door or left on the ground in the mud and sometimes never found," Mohammed Abu-Anees said. "Most villagers understand spoken Hebrew but can't read it and often have no idea that their house is about to be destroyed."
Of the nine houses destroyed on Monday, two were partially inhabited while the remaining seven were still under construction, although almost finished.
"It had taken us two years to build our house and we had spent 130,000 shekels (29,500 dollars) on the house," Majida Al-Alayan, whose house was destroyed, told AFP.
She and her husband had built their house without first obtaining a permit. She said they were ordered to pay a monthly fine of 800 shekels until the court ruled on the fate of the building in October 2002.
Relating Monday's demolition, Al-Alayan said: "We showed them the court papers and explained that the decision had been postponed until next October, but the Israelis went ahead anyway and demolished the house."
Al-Alayan's mother-in-law sat helpless among the house's remains, next to another old woman also dressed in traditional Palestinian garb.
Both women were crying and calling on the United States to stop "Israel's aggression and punishment." Al-Alayan's brother-in-law's house was also demolished Monday.
Hani Issawi from the village council told AFP that another house was also destroyed Monday despite the absence of a court's demolition order.
As the bulldozers were leaving Al Issawyia, Issawi said he had just heard from the Israeli authorities about the fate of seven other houses slated for destruction.
"Six of the owners were given another day to appeal to the court; the demolition order for the seventh house was suspended," AFP quoted Issawi speaking to a crowd of villagers seemingly unmoved by the news.
Human Rights activists told AFP that Palestinians are forbidden to build in occupied east Jerusalem unless they obtain an Israeli permit, which is rarely granted.
A group of European and U.S. representatives, as well as Belgian and Israeli rights activists, were observing the demolition.
"We will report today's demolition to our respective parliaments and authorities in the hope that further demolitions are prevented," said an unnamed high-ranking European Commission representative to AFP.
Sari Nussbeih, in charge of Jerusalem affairs for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, was present at the scene and told AFP: "The demolitions in Rafah and those we witnessed today do not help Palestinians trust in peace with Israel, if any such feeling is still here."
Meanwhile, Israel alleged that the demolition of the houses has been manipulated by the Palestinian Authority.
The commander of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, Brigadier General Yisrael Ziv, was quoted by AFP as claiming the whole story of hundreds of refugees was allegedly a "well-prepared manipulation" by the Palestinian Authority.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 93 Palestinian families, or about 600 people, were made homeless by the Israeli occupation army's demolition in Rafah.
Israeli authorities claimed the houses were abandoned and were allegedly used by Palestinian activists to shoot at the Israeli occupation army.
Demolition of houses lashes criticism worldwide and even inside Israel. Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, has recently said Israel had decided to stop the demolition of homes in the Palestinian territories.
"We have learned the lesson of this business and reached the conclusion that [the destruction of houses] was more harmful than useful to Israel with regard to security," he told Israel public radio.
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