JERUSALEM

Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished three residential buildings in Silwan town in occupied East Jerusalem, according to one of the owners.

Fakhri Abu Diab said Israeli authorities cited the lack of a building permit for the demolitions.

He said the three demolished buildings contained eight residential apartments in Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan.

“Our neighborhood is targeted by the Israeli occupation to build a Jewish project on the ruins of our homes and to displace the Palestinians from east Jerusalem,” he added.

"Israel is exploiting the global attention with the US presidential elections and the aggressions on Gaza and Lebanon to implement its plans of Judaizing Jerusalem,” Abu Diab said.

The Palestinian man said he rebuilt his house after it was demolished by the Israeli authorities in February this year.

“Dozens of homes inhabited by about 1,550 Palestinians in Al-Bustan neighborhood are threatened with demolition by the Israeli authorities,” he warned.

Dozens of Palestinian homes are demolished every year by the Israeli authorities in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, especially in the areas classified by Israel as Area C.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions – Area A, B, and C.

Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem is the capital of their future Palestinian state, while Israel maintains that Jerusalem, in its entirety – both East and West sectors – is its capital.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar