The member of the Silwan Lands Defense Committee Fakhri Abu Diab said that the Israeli occupation municipality is seeking to implement a displacement plan and demolish 100 homes in the Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in favor of establishing a settlement project.
The occupation municipality demanded the Jerusalemites in the Al-Bustan neighborhood to vacate their homes, arguing that they are illegal, pointing out that they are working on a project known as "King's Garden".
The deputy mayor of the occupation municipality, Arieh King, said that he "offered the Palestinian residents to move them to another place, but they refused."
The settlement project is considered one of the most dangerous Israeli projects aimed at changing the identity and demographics of Jerusalem and imposing new Judaization facts in the city.
Abu Diab reported to Safa that there is a clear insistence by the occupation municipality to implement its plan to demolish the neighborhood and expel its 1,550 residents and remove them from the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He added that the determination and insistence of the municipality to demolish the neighborhood and establish its Judaization project comes with clear ideological, biblical, and political objectives.
Recently, the occupation municipality, according to Abu Diab, delivered orders to demolish 100 homes in the neighborhood in two phases. The first phase targeted 17 homes and gave their owners 21 days to implement the self-demolition orders, but the residents refused, so the municipality demolished a commercial facility belonging to the Rajabi family.
As for the second phase, the occupation municipality gave the residents until mid-August to obtain the necessary permits, bearing in mind that the municipality does not grant Jerusalemites any building permits.
For years, the occupation municipality has harnessed all its capabilities and efforts to change the reality and construction in the neighborhood, as well as the demographic structure, in order to impose new facts of a Jewish character.
Source : Safa