Palestinian ordered to demolish own house in Old Jerusalem

Date: 09 / 06 / 2009  Time:  13:16
Jerusalem – Ma’an –

 The Israeli occupation government municipality ordered a Palestinian to demolish his own home in the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Muhammad Ghosheh said police and a demolition crew from the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem arrived at his house in the morning, threatening him with a 100,000 Israeli shekel (25,125 US dollar) fine if he did not destroy the house.

Hundreds of Palestinian-owned structures in occupied East Jerusalem are threatened with demolition on the grounds that they are built without Israeli-issued construction permits, which are routinely denied to Palestinian residents.

The Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Hatem Abdul Qader, arrived at the scene in the Khan Az-Zeit market and denounced the demolition as a crime committed in defiance of US and international pressure.

Abdul Qader was briefly from entering the house prevented by Israeli police, but was ultimately allowed in before the demolition was carried out.

He also asserted that the building will be rebuilt, and noted that the “occupation municipality” recently began to reject all Palestinian applications for building permits in the Old City while granting permits to Israeli settlers to build on property they have taken over.

Israel to demolish 25 Arab stores in Um Al Fahem

Tuesday June 09, 2009 13:08 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agecnies

The so-called Israeli Regional Committee for Construction and Planning in Haifa, issued orders for the evacuation and demolishing 25 Arab stores in the Market area, near the main road of Wadi Ara, in Um Al-Fahim Arab town.

Um Al Fahim Mayor, Sheikh Khalid Hamdan, held an urgent meeting with the owners of the stores in question and informed them that the municipality stands with them since their stores were officially licensed by the municipality, and were approved by the Local Committee for Development and Construction.

The market area Israel is trying to demolish extends on dozens of dunams, and is considered the heart of Um Al Fahim’s economy.

The Israeli orders also include imposing fines on the owners of the stores; the fines in some cases are as high as 27000 NIS.

A store owner stated that he had to pay 27000 NIS in 2002 as a fine, and in 2006 he had to pay 22000 NIS.

He added that the situation cannot be tolerated anymore as the Israeli authorities are demolishing Arab markets and industrial zones instead of developing them.

Several store owners were previously forced to pay high fines, and the Israeli authorities already demolished two stores and a fuel station in the same.

French company to walk out of controversial Jerusalem rail project

Tuesday June 09, 2009 10:28 by Katherine Orwell - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

The French company Veolia was supposed to operate the rail project that will connect the city center of Jerusalem with the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but now wants to withdraw from the project that is deemed illegal under international law. Observers claim this is the achievement of the Global Boycot Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign that has been mounted on Israel.

Veolia not only wants out of running the train project; it's also trying to sell its 5% stake in Citypass, the light rail consortium.

The BDS Campaign against Israel has welcomed the move of Veolia and reports it as a victory for its campaign. According to Omar Barghouti of the BDS movement the withdrawal is the result of years of hard work, causing Veolia to lose around 7 billion US dollars in contracts in Europe. The biggest loss came in Sweden where peace groups and church organizations successfully prevented Veolia to operate the Stockholm metro, a deal which involved 4.5 billion dollars.

Veolia also had to deal with a French lawsuit, filed by a pro-Palestinian group that demanded that the court annulled the business agreement as it violated international law.