Escalated Israeli Colonial Activities in the occupied Eastern part of the city of Jerusalem
The Palestinian Territory is witnessing a drastic increase in the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people and their properties, specifically in the Eastern part of the city of Jerusalem, where in June 2014, a series of Israeli colonial activities took place in several parts of the city of Jeruslaem and around it:
On June 2, 2014 : the Israeli Occupation Army stationed in Ras Al-‘Amoud neighborhood nearby Silwan town and demolished a 60 m2 store and an entrance of a house owned by the Jerusalemite resident , Akram ‘Ali Al-Qanbar.
June 2, 2014: The Israeli Occupation Army and bulldozers demolished a fence surrounded a car parking in As-Shayyah neighborhood in At-Tur town in Jerusalem under the pretext of lacking building permits.
June 2, 2014 : The Israeli Occupation Army bulldozers stationed in Hizma town north of the city of Jerusalem and demolished, without prior notification, two commercial barrackses among the owners Faris Salah Al-Din.
June 5, 2014 : In response to the conformation of the Palestinian unity government, the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction issued tenders to build new 1500 housing units in number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (400 units in Ramat Shlomo and 155 in Giv’at Ze’ev). Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel stated : “ I congratulate the decision to give the proper Zionist response to the establishment of the Palestinian Terror cabinet…….. The right and duty of the State of Israel to build across the country to lower the housing prices is unquestionable and I believe these tenders are just the beginning”.
June 10, 2014: The Israeli Occupation bulldozers accompanied by the Israeli Army razed a Palestinian land in Wadi Al-Jouz neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem.
June 17, 2014: The Israeli Army bulldozers stationed in Al-Izzarriyyeh town east of Jerusalem and demolished 150 square meter car wash and 70 square meters commercial structures owned by the local resident Sami Abu Ghalia under the pretext of lack of building permits.
June 18, 2014 : The Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem handed over demolition orders for five structures in Al-bustan, ‘Ein Al-Louza, Wadi Rababa and Wadi Hilwa neighborhoods in Silwan town in Jerusalem. The targeted structures are : car parking , old small room and 50 square meters house which is owned by the resident Samer Shakir.
June 18, 2014: The Israeli Local Planning and Building committee in Jerusalem approved a new plan to construct 172 housing units in the illegal settlement of Har Homa south of the city of Jerusalem and north of Bethlehem city. The newly approved housing units spread across several residential buildings, of seven to nine floors and each one will be between 36 to 50 units. Each building will cover an area of 2,661 to 3,800 square feet. See map of Har Homa settlement
Map 1: the illegal Israeli settlement of Har Homa
To Conclude
The Israeli Occupation are intensifying the targeting of the Palestinian people and their properties in all parts of the Palestinian territory where all the colonial activities practiced by the occupation authorities are illegal:-
- Articles 53 & 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 indicated that: Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. is a grave breach of the Convention.
- Article XXXI of the 1995 Oslo agreement Israelis forbidden from building or planning to any project or settlements or any colonial expansion or any plan that lead to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The article provides “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations”.
- Also the resolution 452 of the 1979 “calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.”
- Furthermore the Forth Geneva Convention also states in Article 49 that “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.” and Article 174 of the same convention “prohibits the 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”
Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
