20,000 flats threatened with demolition in occupied Jerusalem, PA warns 

More than 20,000 apartments owned by Palestinians in the occupied city of Jerusalem, are threatened with demolition by the Israeli municipality, the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Affairs Minister Fadi Al-Hadami  said.

Warning of the rising pace of displacement and ethnic cleansing against Palestinian residents, Al-Hadmi said Israeli occupation authorities have demolished nearly 500 residential buildings in Jerusalem over the past two years, noting that the West Jerusalem municipality has significantly increased the policy of forcing citizens to demolish their owns homes since the beginning of the year.

Al-Hadmi stressed that the Israeli authorities are escalating their settlement activities in occupied East Jerusalem, by expanding the existing settlements, and linking settlements through a series of streets, tunnels and bridges.

“Within the Judaisation schemes that seek to change the Palestinian face of the city, a number of dangerous occupation projects and laws have emerged during the past period, including the so-called City Centre project, which is one of the most dangerous Israeli schemes that targets the most important centres and large areas of land “ he said, pointing out that the Israeli land settlement project in Jerusalem, which is one of the most dangerous projects that has been and is being implemented aims to seize more Palestinian properties, through the so-called Absentee Property Law, and to obliterate Arab and Palestinian landmarks.

He also warned that the series of Israeli crimes in the city of Jerusalem continue without deterrence or accountability, adding: “We affirm that tampering with the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is a crime contrary to international law, and to the status quo in the city, where the attacks on worshippers and incursions, in addition to the attempts to divide the blessed mosque temporally and spatially, which have reached advanced stages by expelling worshippers and controlling their entry to the mosque as well as intensifying settler incursions.

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