Occupation forces threaten to demolish the Al-Bustan neighborhood next to Al-Aqsa Mosque

Occupied Al-Quds, (ST) – More than 1,500 Palestinians in the Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan town in the occupied city of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) are facing the threat of forced displacement as a result of the Israeli occupation’s threat to demolish the neighborhood, which includes more than 100 homes  in order to establish a settlement outpost on the neighborhood‘s land. The international community is following up on this crime of settlement without taking any step to stop it and to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy that confirm the illegality of settlements.

Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan, which is south of the Old City, has 119 families in 88 buildings that are under threat of demolishment to make way for an Israeli archaeological park.

 Since 2005, citizens of al-Bustan have received warnings that nearly 90 homes will be demolished under the pretext of building without a permit, in favor of a settler organization that seeks to turn the land into a national park.

Spokesman for the people of Silwan in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Fakhri Abu Diab, affirmed in a statement to SANA that, the residents of Al-Bustan neighborhood, which represents the first line of defense for Al-Aqsa Mosque, are steadfast in their homes on the land they inherited from their ancestors. They will will not allow the occupation to demolish it. He indicated that, this position is their response on the threats of the occupation and their only way to thwart its settlement plans.

Member of the Silwan Lands Defense Committee Khaled Abu Tayeh said that, what is happening in the Al-Bustan neighborhood comes within the framework of a systematic plan to intensify settlements and besiege Al-Aqsa and the Old City of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) from all directions. He stressed that; these Judaizing colonial schemes will fail in the face of the steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian people.

Director General of the Department of Maps and Surveys in the Bett Al-Shrarq in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Khalil Al-Tafkaji, indicated that the occupation seized most of the historical and archaeological areas in Silwan and established 78 settlement outposts in the town used by settlers to storm Al-Aqsa and carry out attacks on Palestinian homes in the Old City.

Al-Tfakaji called on the international community to take action to stop the occupation’s plans to empty occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) of the Palestinian presence, pointing out that the occupation threatens to demolish 33,000 homes inhabited by 100,000 Palestinians in the city.

A member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Wasel Abu Yousef, said that the occupation is exploiting the silence of the international community to pass its colonial plans in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), including demolishing homes, settlements and desecration of holy sites, The member warned that the next stage will witness more crimes of displacement and ethnic cleansing in light of the failure of the United Nations to assume its responsibilities towards the occupation’s grave violations of the rights of the Palestinian people and its inability to implement international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.

Raghda Sawas