Bulldozers of the Israeli municipality, today morning, stormed the Yusufiya cemetery in the Lions Gate in Jerusalem, and embarked on tearing down the wall of the martyrs cemetery built since the occupation of the city in 1967.

Muhammad Baydoun, a member of Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries in Jerusalem, told Safa that the bulldozers of the Israeli municipality began to remove part of the wall and the stairs of the Yusufiya cemetery, which they demolished about 10 days ago, to facilitate the passage of the bulldozer into the cemetery.

The bulldozer stormed the Yusufiya cemetery accompanied by the Israeli municipality employees and under the protection of the Israeli police, and proceeded to demolish the wall of the martyrs cemetery built many years ago.

“Mustafa Abu Zahra, Head of the Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries in Jerusalem, accompanied by lawyer Hamzah Qutainah attended the cemetery and confronted the demolition and bulldozing, but the municipality employees continued the demolition process,” Baydoun added.

In the cemetery, there is edifice of the martyrs who died in the 1967 war and new ones which were added later.

Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries organized a sit-in 10 days ago at the martyrs cemetery in protest against the demolition of the Israeli municipality the ladder of the historic Yusufiya cemetery and the plan to control the cemetery of the martyrs to implement the Biblical Garden plan.

The Israeli municipality attacked the martyrs cemetery 7 years ago, and demolished about 40 graves inside it, pouring concrete on it to obliterate its features. Till now, there are some graves and edifice of the martyrs inside it.

Source : Safa