Jerusalem activist fears that after demolishing individual houses in the city, Israel intends to demolish entire areas

After demolishing individual Palestinian-owned houses in the occupied city of Jerusalem, there is concern that the Israeli authorities intend now to demolish entire Palestinian quarters, today said Yacoub Odeh, a Palestinian activist in Jerusalem.

He told Voice of Palestine radio that the settlement groups, which now run the show in Israel, are racing against time to create facts on the ground in the occupied section of Jerusalem in order to abolish the Palestinian presence in the city through demolition and displacement.

Odeh said that the annual average rate of demolition of homes and structures in Jerusalem has quadrupled in the past two years and last year reached 200.

The next peril is the demolition of entire quarters in Jerusalem, such as the Sheikh Jarrah and areas in Silwan, as well as the demolition of large housing projects around the city, he warned.

He said Palestinians in Jerusalem need at least 27,000 units to solve the housing crisis, pointing out to the difficulty of building all these units particularly after Israel has seized large areas of land in the city leaving only 8 percent of it, including the built-up areas, for its 300,000 Palestinian residents.

Most of the appropriated land was used to build settlements with thousands of housing units only for Israelis.

Source: Palestinian News & Information Agency