UN , DON’T JUST CONDEMN , STOP THE DEMOLITION IN SILWAN !

We demand the UN not only to condemn the demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan but take concrete action to stop the forced expulsion and demographic change in the residential areas of the Old City .

The recent Israeli forces who demolished a butcher’s shop and use tear gas to push back residents and activists , is appalling and bound to create a strong response from the Palestinians to protect their rights.

The violence that erupted is the result of a continuos persecution of israel regime and the settlers against the Palestinians.

The Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers entered the Palestinian neighbourhood and destroyed a butcher’s shop in Silwan.

We stand in solidarity with residents and Palestinian activists to resist the demolition.

The UN has issued a condemnation. However the situation in all the occupied territories of East Jurasalem is degrading into Palestinians being forcefully evicted and residents expelled.

UN has not done any concrete action to stop the atrocities. By not acting , UN is complicit with the israeli impunity.

The zionist regime is not going to stop in executing the demographic change in the Old City.

The court is being abused to favour the settlers demand to claim the Palestinian homes.

Failing to act to protect the rights of the Palestinian will endanger their existence in the neighborhoods.

The demolition on Tuesday will continue to destroy 20 other units that are in the same situation in this neighbourhood.

Israeli police are using brute force on Palestinians demonstrators..

On June 7, the Jerusalem municipality issued a series of demolition orders to residents of the al-Bustan area in Silwan.

The residences are under threat of eviction when the regime gave ultimatum to 13 families to evacuate and demolish their houses themselves. Failure to do so would mean the municipality would destroy the houses and families would have to cover the demolition costs – an estimated $6,000.

This is an outrageous and only the UN can intervene and stop the carnage.
 
UN needs to halt the illegal actions by the regime by the international resolutions on the occupied East Jerusalem.

We demand the UN to use its international pressure to stop the Israeli settler’s organisation that seeks to evict Palestinians.

The recent demolition is to turn the area into a national park and link it to the archaeological City of David area.

A court-ordered forced displacements are tactics used to expel Palestinian residents.

Palestinians in East Jerusalem make up the majority of the population in the Old City.

However israeli zoning laws have allocated 35 percent of the land area for the construction of illegal settlements by Israeli settlers.

At least 33,000 Palestinians live in the Silwan neighbourhood.

Israeli settler organisation for years have been targetting Palestinian residential areas aiming to expel Palestinians,.

UN must not delay to stop the highly tense situation as it may escalate into a wider clash.

The regime using the court to order expulsion of Palestinian families living in Silwan for more than 50 years since they were displaced from the Old City in the 1960s , is a signal that more aggressive measures will be pursued to change the demographic status of the Old City.

Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli settler organisation that aims to acquire land and increase the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, was established to focus on buying over or using the court to take over Palestinian lands and homes under the historic Jewish land trust.

The settler organisation has claimed in court the trust it controls owns the land.

Under Israeli law, if Jews can prove that their families lived in East Jerusalem before the establishment of Israel in 1948, they can request the “return” of their property, even if Palestinian families have been living there for decades.

The law only applies to Israelis, and Palestinians do not have the same rights under it.

While Palestinians who lost their homeland in 500 villages inside Israel, including West Jerusalem, cannot claim back their property.

Why is the UN allowing this blatant violation of the international law while fully knowing the East Jerusalem is under the supervision of the UN ?

The expulsion of Palestinians in Shekh Jarrah and now Silwan will expect more evictions in other areas.

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza will not hold if the aggression continues unabated.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President MAPIM.