Israel Demolishes East Jerusalem Building Displacing 69 People
Israeli authorities demolished a residential building in East Jerusalem, displacing 69 people in the largest single-building demolition since 2009.
The Government of Israel demolished a five-story residential building in the At Tur area of East Jerusalem on Tuesday, displacing 69 people, more than half of whom are children. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) identified this as the largest number of people displaced by a single demolition since 2009. Families reported that Israeli forces prevented them from retrieving belongings from the rubble.
While Israel maintains that such demolitions target structures built without permits, the Palestinian Authority characterized the action as "forcible transfer." OCHA noted that over 1,800 Palestinian homes in the West Bank have been demolished or forced into demolition this year, stating most were demolished for lacking permits which are rarely granted to Palestinians.
Simultaneously, the Israeli Interior Ministry is denying the right of return to two Palestinian electrical engineering lecturers, Dr. Immad Hammada and Dr. Murad Abu-Khalaf, who studied in the United States. Under ministry regulations, residency rights can be abrogated if residents leave the city for over seven years. These cases are currently before Judge Noam Sohlberg of the Jerusalem District Court.
