Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Jerusalem mayor to raze 200 Palestinian homes


Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 9 February 2010

"Jerusalem's mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighborhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil.

His uncompromising stance is the latest stage in a protracted legal battle over a single building towering above the jumble of modest homes of Silwan, a deprived and overcrowded Palestinian community lying just outside the Old City walls, in the shadow of the silver-topped al-Aqsa mosque......

A planning map of East Jerusalem drawn up recently by the Jerusalem municipality came to light last month, as Barkat was promising to legalize buildings, showing that more than 300 homes -- most of them in Silwan -- were facing imminent demolition."

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