IOA begins a campaign of demolition in OJ, plans 12,000 housing units

Israeli public security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has said that a campaign of demolition against “illegal” Palestinian homes in eastern Jerusalem would start soon.

The Hebrew radio on Wednesday quoted the minister as saying that the demolition orders against Palestinian homes in eastern Jerusalem, Negev and Galilee would start within the few coming days.

He underlined that the army troops would protect the teams implementing those demolition orders.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hasan Khater, the secretary general of the Islamic Christian commission to support Jerusalem and holy shrines, said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) was planning the establishment of 12,000 new housing units in Walaja village, south of occupied Jerusalem.

He told a press conference on Wednesday that the project would seize 2,500 dunums of the village lands and would accommodate 45,000 settlers.

The project would intensify Jewish presence in the holy city and the “settlement belt” extending from Jabal Abu Ghuneim, which groups 25,000 settlers, to the Gilo settlement, which groups 35,000 settlers, Khater explained.

He said that the IOA was now “privatizing” settlement activity in occupied Jerusalem, which applies to the new settlement project in Walaja village.