Mansi Deplores Israeli Government for Demolishing Palestinian Homes in Jerusalem

[ 27/10/2009 - 04:46 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Palestinian minister of public works and housing Dr. Yousuf Al-Mansi strongly denounced the Israeli occupation government (IOG) for continuing to demolish Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem.

Dr. Mansi underlined that the IOG flouts all international laws and norms and persists in its criminal demolition policy that leads to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, noting that the IOG flattened two Palestinian homes in Jerusalem city both inhabited by 59 individuals.

The minister appealed to international human rights organizations to pressure Israel to stop its wanton measures in Jerusalem which are aimed to displace its indigenous Palestinian population and end their presence in the holy city.

In the same context, the IOG demolished Tuesday morning a two-story home in Sour Baher village, south of Jerusalem, owned by a Palestinian citizen called Namer Ali, who has a family of 50 individuals.

Israeli bulldozers also on the same day flattened the home of another Palestinian citizen called Khamis Shehadeh in Al-Salam area, northeast of Jerusalem. This demolition led to the displacement of Shehadeh’s family composed of nine individuals.

In another development, Palestinian local sources reported Tuesday that Israeli troops kidnapped at dawn a large number of young men from the neighborhoods of the old city and its environs in Jerusalem owing to their participation in defending the Aqsa Mosque against Israeli attempts to storm it two days ago.

The sources said that the campaign was carried out after midnight and lasted until the early morning hours of the same day, adding the young men are still detained in interrogation centers located west of the holy city.

For its part, Wa’ed society for detainees deplored these indiscriminate arrests carried out by Israeli troops in the old city.

Wa’ed affirmed that a majority of these arrests are carried out in violation of the rules of humanitarian law, where they are often accompanied by humiliation and physical maltreatment.

In the same context, the Israeli occupation forces reportedly kidnapped at dawn Tuesday eight Palestinian citizens in different areas in Jerusalem, Qalqiliya and Bethlehem.

The Israeli troops also kidnapped at dawn on the same day four Palestinian school boys under age 18 during a raid on Al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

In another context, Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, as they were heading to their fields near the settlement of Raheel built on usurped Palestinian lands.

The eyewitnesses added that when the farmers tried to defend themselves, Israeli troops who were escorting the settlers attacked the farmers and started to beat some of them severely which led to the injury of two of the villagers and the detention of another.

They also affirmed that the villagers went to harvest olive trees in their fields when they were taken aback by the settler’s attack, although there is a prior agreement with the IOA on allowing the farmers to cultivate and harvest their lands near the settlement.

For his part, Palestinian minister of agriculture Dr. Mohamed Al-Agha deplored the escalating attacks waged by Israeli settlers on Palestinian farmers, saying that these attacks increased significantly in the current year especially during the olive harvest.

In a press release, Agha described that the settlers’ repeated attacks on farmers and their agricultural corps in the West Bank towns and villages as a massacre, noting that the settlers commit their crimes against farmers under military protection.

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