Absence of international pressure encourages Israeli violations, says PA

The Palestinian Authority accused the international community and UN bodies on Sunday of ignoring daily Israeli violations of human rights. Such breaches of international law are regarded as “routine” and are reported and dealt with simply as statistics, Quds Press has reported.

“This policy hides the size of the tragedy of the Palestinian families whose houses have been destroyed [by the Israeli occupation],” insisted the PA foreign minister in a media statement. He called for the international community to bear its legal and ethical responsibilities to protect the Palestinians, and to deal with house demolitions as crimes against humanity which represent the worst form of occupation.

In the latest example of such destruction, the Israeli occupation authorities have issued demolition orders in the Ein Al-Louza neighbourhood of Silwan, in occupied east Jerusalem, under the pretext that the owners have no building licences. Such licences are rarely, if ever, granted to Palestinian resident of occupied Jerusalem; illegal Jewish settlers have no such problems.

Since the beginning of May, Quds Press has reported the demolition of 19 Palestinians houses; 16 were knocked down in April. In addition, dozens of demolition orders have been given to Palestinians in different neighbourhoods across Jerusalem.

The ministry statement added that the Israeli government has been continuous in its efforts to Judaise occupied Jerusalem and the escalation of the “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinians. The intention is to isolate Al-Aqsa Mosque from its Palestinian hinterland. The Israelis, said the PA, have started to build structures underneath the Old City of Jerusalem capable of hosting “Talmudic rituals” and undermining the foundations of the Palestinian-owned buildings on the surface.

The statement from the PA accused Israel of putting further obstacles in the way of a viable Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, while the international community is completely indifferent to what the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing.

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