The Palestine Liberation Organization said today, Saturday, that the Israeli demolition of residential homes in the eastern part of Jerusalem recorded a record this year compared to previous years.
The (National Office for Land Defense and Resistance to Settlement) of the PLO stated in a report that, since the beginning of this year, the Israeli authorities have demolished 129 housing units in the Holy City.
The report stated that the aforementioned number is a record for home demolitions, surpassing the previous record recorded in 2016, which witnessed the demolition of 123 housing units.
And he considered that Israel´s policies "do not stop at the limits of expanding settlement construction in Jerusalem and its surroundings, or at the limits of attempts to falsify its cultural features and identity, but rather go beyond that towards changing its demographic character."
The report accused Israel of practicing "silent ethnic cleansing" through various methods, one of which is the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes.
On the other hand, the report highlighted the escalation of Israeli settlement activities by building more new units and increasing the number of settlers, including in the heart of Hebron in the southern West Bank, through a new settlement plan that is being implemented in the city.
He stated that the Israeli authorities recently approved the construction of 60 settlement units in the Wholesale Market complex in Hebron, as part of plans to double the number of settlers in the city.
In December 2019, former Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett gave settler groups the green light to rebuild the Wholesale Market complex, which had been deserted for many years.
According to the report, this settlement project will lead to the formation of a geographic settlement connection between the Ibrahimi Mosque and the nearby "Abraham Avino" settlement neighborhood, and thus the number of settlers in Hebron will double.
The report indicated that the Israeli government approved the start of building settlement units east of "Nokadim" settlement, east of Bethlehem Governorate, in conjunction with the approval of a detailed structural plan to seize tens of dunums in the governorate.
The settlement file is the most prominent aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for stopping the last peace negotiations between the two sides before mid-2014.
