Israeli minister calls for Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem

The Israeli Minister of Construction and Housing Uri Ariel called for “imposing the Israeli sovereignty over all areas in Jerusalem”.

During a tour he took of Shuafat, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, he said: “It is clear that there are parts where Israel does not exercise neither its sovereignty nor its control over, and this is happening here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”

The website of Israel’s Channel 7 quoted Ariel as saying: “The solution requires a special effort from all of us, and I will work, together with the other members, on exercising the Israeli sovereignty over this region.”

The Israeli public radio reported that Ariel said: “I had a look at the size of the phenomenon of unauthorized construction in Shuafat as well as the repeated incidents of shooting of live bullets from Shuafat towards neighboring Jewish neighborhoods.”

Shuafat is the birthplace of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the teen who was kidnapped and burned alive by Jewish settlers on 2nd July 2014.

Since then, Shuafat and many Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have been witnessing popular unrest, which is still continuing today.

Palestinians stress that East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state. However Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and considers Jerusalem, both its east and west parts, as its capital.