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Resistance groups call for urgent action to defend Palestinian properties after Silwan home demolition

RESISTANCE groups called for urgent action to defend Palestinian properties today after Israeli forces stormed the Silwan neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, forcing a man to demolish his own home.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement warned of “terrorism that targets Jerusalemites” following a string of home demolitions ordered in the last week.

The Israeli authorities said that Muhammad Nassar al-Hussein did not have the required permit when he built his home in Silwan — but permits are rarely granted to Palestinians.

In a number of areas of East Jerusalem, Israel has not issued a single building permit since 1967 and the authorities use the lack of permission as an excuse to bulldoze Palestinian homes.

In June an Israeli court gave 13 families, affecting 130 people, just 21 days to leave their homes in Silwan. They were ordered to demolish the buildings themselves. Failing to do so would see the families charged about $6,000 (£4,350) to cover the costs of the destruction.

Silwan, home to some 33,000 Palestinians, lies about 2.4 miles from Sheikh Jarrar, where mass protests took place earlier this year as the Israeli occupying forces attempted to clear families from their homes in what has been called an attempted ethnic cleansing.

The land there is to be handed to an Israeli settler organisation, which wants to turn it into a national park and for the homes to be demolished to make way for a road linking it to the City of David area.

PIJ spokesman Tariq Salmi said that there had been an escalation of “an aggressive policy aimed at continuing pressure on Jerusalemites and besieging them in all aspects of life, leading to their displacement and deportation from Jerusalem.

“These crimes and terrorism targeting Jerusalemites require action to activate all required measures to protect and rescue them, and to strengthen their steadfastness in the face of ethnic cleansing policies and all the crimes committed by the terrorist occupation against them,” he said.

According to the United Nations, Israeli occupying forces have demolished, seized or forced people to demolish at least 421 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank this year, displacing 592 people, including 320 children.

Yet despite the home demolitions and the construction of Israeli settlements being a breach of international law, the global response has been muted.

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