Municipality bulldozers razing 500 dunams of land in Issawiya

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Municipality bulldozers razing 500 dunams of land in Issawiya: "They destroy a house everday"

Jerusalem / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh for PNN – Under heavy army and police escort, bulldozers from the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality entered the East Jerusalem town of Issawiya.

They were there yesterday to raze some 500 dunams of land privately owned by Palestinian families from the village.

The operation was conducted after Israeli police cordoned off the area and prevented citizens and journalists from getting near the bulldozers. They conducted the demolition from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon.

One of the owners of the land confiscated by the municipality of Jerusalem, says that more should be done to preserve the natural landscape in Jerusalem. He told PNN, "We are being swept away by the mechanisms of the occupation municipality with this current destruction located on about 500 dunams of land in the south of the village in an area at the head of Tamim and Almish." He stressed his belief that this move is part of the policy of Judaizing Jerusalem.

Riad Al Sheikh reports that he has a piece of land that was confiscated, along with the papers to prove his ownership. The occupying Israeli administration is taking more lands to build settlements and expand existing ones like “Har Homa” built atop Bethlehem’s Abu Ghnaim Mountain. Some Palestinian land is also being taken for the creation of parks.

The land that has been confiscated by dredging may be added to the E1 industrial park, which links the settlements from the north to the south of the Jordan Valley. The authorities plan to build Israeli settlements there. Another owner of confiscated land, Issa, criticized the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem who continues house demolitions and land confiscation in the village in order to reshape the identity of Jerusalem. He pointed out that a few days ago the mayor visited the village for the opening of a school hall.

Issa told PNN, "They open an area of 20 meters for the village while on the other hand they are seizing hundreds of acres. They claim to seek peace, but they are not seeking it on the ground, they are destroying a house every day and they confiscate our land." He pointed out that he intends to go through the Israeli courts to file a complaint on the confiscation.

Abdel Darwish is another citizen who had a piece of cultivated land confiscated. He explained to PNN that prior to the confiscation he received an ultimatum from the municipality requesting the evacuation of the land and the removal of the perimeter fence from the area. Darwish said, "This confiscation will disrupt the lives of many citizens in the region. They will cut off the road leading to our homes, and possibly threaten us tomorrow to vacate them altogether." He pointed out that he had submitted a complaint to the court and expected the next proceeding to be on the third of September

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