Ki-moon condemns Israel’s demolition of Shepherd hotel in O. Jerusalem

 UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon denounced Israel for demolishing Shepherd hotel, the house of late grand mufti of the holy city Amin Al-Husseini, in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem.

A spokesman for Ki-moon said on Monday that the UN secretary-general condemns Israel’s destruction of Shepherd hotel in east Jerusalem and warned that such acts would escalate tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.

Spokesman Martin Nesirky added that it is very unfortunate that the growing international concern over Israel’s illegal settlement expansion is disregarded.

For his part, Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands, deplored what happened to the hotel, saying that Israel’s black dreams about Judaizing Jerusalem and building its alleged temple on the ruins of the Aqsa Mosque would never come true.

Israel’s demolition of this historical hotel was also slammed by Palestinian minister of tourism and antiquities Mohamed Al-Agha who described the act as a dangerous precedent and a flagrant assault on one of the most important historical landmarks in Jerusalem.

In a statement on Monday, Agha added that what happened was part of Israel’s criminal policies which aim to remove all the Islamic landmarks and expel the Palestinian natives from their holy city.