June 9, 2009

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authroity forced on Tuesday a Palestinian citizen called Mohamed Ghosheh to demolish his home located in Souk Khan Al-Zeit in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.

Palestinian local sources said that a large number of Israeli municipal civil servants escorted by Israeli policemen came to the area and threatened to fine Ghosheh around 25,000 dollars if he did not demolish his house himself.

The IOA claimed that the house was unlicensed and built illegally in the area.

The Hebrew radio said that the Israeli police arrested two people from Jerusalem who tried to prevent the demolition.

In a related context, minister of housing and public works Dr. Mahmoud Al-Mansi on Monday warned that Israel still pursues its racist practices that are aimed to expel the Palestinians from Jerusalem through its judaization schemes and discriminatory laws.

In a press release received by the PIC, Dr. Mansi added that Israel invents different ways to expel the Palestinians from Jerusalem and continues to set plans aimed to separate the holy city from its Palestinian surrounding and change its demographic reality.

The minister also said that Israel continues to build settlement outposts around the Palestinian city of Jerusalem and annex its lands with the aim of re-demarcating its borders.

The minister strongly denounced the Israeli government for issuing a new batch of demolition orders against 13 apartments belonging to Palestinian families in Garden of Eden neighborhood in Beit Hanina at the pretext of unlicensed construction.