Israel begins 2011 al-Quds demolitions

Israeli forces have razed a Palestinian home in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the latest in the nonstop wave of Israeli demolitions in the illegally annexed city.

Israeli army bulldozers tore down Nasser Siyam’s house in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood on Monday morning, leaving the eight-member family homeless, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The Israeli soldiers broke into the house when it was empty except for Siyam’s 10-year-old child. They removed the furniture and crushed the walls, leaving the Palestinian family nowhere to stay but a bedroom and the bathroom that were spared from the demolition.
Siyam said he had been battling the Israeli court system since 2004, trying to save his home. He applied for permits several times to keep his home, but was denied every time.

Siyam’s house is the first home to be destroyed by Israeli bulldozers in the new year, analysts expect Tel Aviv will carry out many more demolitions in the city it occupied back in 1967.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished 11 structures in the al-Tur neighborhood of East al-Quds for being constructed without permits — documents that are almost impossible to obtain from Israeli municipal authorities.

In 2010 alone, Israel destroyed nearly 40 Palestinian homes and 90 shops in East al-Quds, with the dramatic increase of razing homes giving rise to concerns about Israel’s plan to remove the Palestinians from the occupied city and judaize the Palestinians’ demanded capital.

A recent report by the United Nations warned that almost a quarter of the 250,000 Palestinians living in East al-Quds are at the risk of having their homes leveled by Israel.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) lashed at the relentless demolitions for their destructive influence on the Palestinians’ lives.

“These condemnable acts have a devastating impact,” Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank Barbara Shenstone said in a statement on Monday.

“While children around the world are enjoying the holiday season in their homes, these children have suffered the trauma and indignity of watching their homes destroyed in the presence of their parents,” she regretted. “It is extremely cruel and distressing.”