Israel yesterday carved a hole into the Old City walls of occupied
Jerusalem to create a new “gate” near the ancient Damascus Gate (Bab
Al-Amoud).
The news came from Palestinian sources inside the city which said that
for several days the Jerusalem Municipality has been making changes to
an inner courtyard of the Christian Quarter, Quds Press reported. The
new “gate” is thought to lead to Christian homes inside the Old City,
but the reasons for its construction are unclear.
The community leader, Basem Saeed Wajih, told Quds Press that “we have
not been informed of any changes or new alleys or roads in the Christian
Quarter by the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality.”
Israel regularly acts with impunity against Jerusalem’s infrastructure.
Yesterday, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian printing press in the
city’s Silwan neighbourhood, just outside the Mughrabi Gate. Israeli
forces subsequently detained and assaulted the Palestinian inhabitants
who filmed the incident. A Jerusalemite whose family members were
detained said that “they [Israeli forces] just used an unbelievable
amount of violence, they had army forces and didn’t notify us [of the
demolition] at all.”
Earlier this week, Israel also razed Palestinian land in Jerusalem’s
Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood, despite not having a court order to do so.
Hashem Badr, a member of a local committee, said that Israeli bulldozers
entered the neighbourhood and began to raze the land and uproot several
trees under the protection of Israeli occupation forces. Badr stressed
that the Custodian of Absentees’ Property, the department responsible
for the razing, attempted to claim ownership of the property and carry
out the seizure of the land without an official court order.
Jerusalem has been under Israeli occupation since the Six Day War of
1967. Following the war of 1948, which saw the creation of the State of
Israel and the Palestinian Nakba, Jerusalem was divided into two with
the East (including the Old City) falling under Jordanian control and
the West under Israeli control. The city is now administered by Israel’s
Jerusalem Municipality, which is seen by Jerusalemite Palestinians as
an illegitimate institution and often boycotted in municipal elections.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/37437
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