Tuesday 17 March 2009

Demolition policy escalated since Barakat took office



[ 17/03/2009 - 05:00 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli army radio reported Monday that right-wing mayor of occupied Jerusalem Nir Barakat has issued 34 orders of demolishing Palestinian homes in eastern Jerusalem since he took office three months ago which indicate that there will be a significant increase in demolition orders this year compared to last year.

The radio also said that since Barakat started his tenure only three months ago, more than 100 indictments have been filed on a daily basis by his municipality against Palestinian citizens in eastern Jerusalem demanding the demolition of their homes at the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Barakat claimed in an interview conducted by the army radio that he does not discriminate between the citizens of eastern and western Jerusalem and is not biased against Palestinians, while the radio itself noted that there are difficulties in issuing building permits for all Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem.

The radio quoted an Israeli police source as saying that there is information that the Palestinians in Jerusalem intend to organize angry protests in the Palestinian neighborhoods in the holy city against the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes.

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