Israel plans more house demolitions in Shufat camp

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli intelligence agents on Tuesday escorted representatives from the Jerusalem municipality on a tour of Shufat refugee camp and took photos of several buildings in Ras Khamis and Ras Shehada neighborhoods.

Jerusalem activist Thaer Abed Rabbo told Ma'an that more than 120 intelligence agents were seen in the camp.

Jamil Sanduqa, who chairs a local committee to develop the Ras Khamis neighborhood, highlighted that municipality officers took photos of 28 buildings each consisting of 20-50 apartments. They measured the buildings from the outside, writing marks on maps they had.

Sanduqa said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas should stop peace negotiations with the Israelis in response to the "racist" procedures against the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

A member of a committee representing owners of a building slated for demolition Khader Salameh highlighted that the Jerusalem municipality had delivered demolition warrants on October 31 for dozens of residential building housing more than 15,000 Palestinians in Shuafat.

He described the Israeli move as "a frenetic ethnic cleansing campaign" seeking to evacuate the indigenous residents of Jerusalem in order to make them a minority in the city.

Israel has destroyed more than 558 Palestinian properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the beginning of this year, displacing 919 people, according to UNOCHA.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.  Ma'anNews