20,000 Palestinian Homes Under Demolition Threat
Ahmad Ruweidi, the Palestinian Authority's legal advisor on al-Quds affairs, said Israeli courts will soon hand demolition orders to Palestinian homeowners over what Tel Aviv calls violation of construction rules over the past 10 years and the requirement of renewable licenses.
The figure does not include homes whose owners have already received final demolition orders from Israeli courts or the Israeli municipality in al-Quds, Ruweidi noted.
This means that all owners will live in a state of fear that at any moment their homes could be demolished or a family member may be found homeless on the street, he cautioned.
Ruweidi said Israel's policy was intended to force Palestinians in al-Quds to pay large sums to engineers and lawyers in addition to significant fines for the so-called 'violations of construction restrictions.'
Major differences between the Palestinians and Israelis are growing deeper over Tel Aviv's continued demolition of Palestinian houses in al-Quds and its efforts to create a demographic wedge in the region.
On Saturday, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas told delegates at the Arab League summit in Libya that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, in annexed East al-Quds in particular, remained the main obstacle to the resumption of the 'peace' talks.
Abbas described al-Quds, which Palestinians have long been demanding as the capital of their future Palestinian state, as "the jewel in the crown as well as the door and the key to peace."
"We emphasize that we hold onto every grain of soil and stone in Jerusalem (al-Quds). We are determined to defend Palestine's capital," he stressed.
March 28, 2010