EIGHT MORE HOMES TO BE DEMOLISHED IMMEDIATELY IN EAST JERUSALEM

WHILE JEWISH SETTLERS OCCUPY AN ARAB HOME

19 September 1996

In a dramatic step in the Jerusalem Municipality's ongoing campaign to reduce or eliminate the Arab presence in Jerusalem, the Israeli Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert himself signed eight new and immediate demolition orders for Issawiya village, in northern Jerusalem. Olmert issued administrative demolition orders that allows the municipality to demolish these homes at the end of a 24 hour "grace" period following their posting. These homes are built in an area zoned for housing and in the past, the older homes of this area received simply a ticket for building without a permit. Marking the new era of aggression against Arab residents, however, these eight new homes have received immediate demolition orders. These families could stand to lose their homes tomorrow, 12 September, unless action is taken immediately.

These are just the latest steps taken by the Jerusalem municipality. On Tuesday 17 September a home was demolished in Jerusalem's Old City, in the Armenian Quarter. This home was demolished since the family added an illegal addition to the second floor of the home. Just days after this demolition, on Thursday 19 September a Jewish settler family moved into a building on Nablus Road, in the heart of East Jerusalem and across from the American Consulate. This home was occupied by these Jewish settlers following the conclusion an illegal and non-binding sales contract. This again highlights the double standard and the racism inherent in the Jerusalem municipalities policies concerning Palestinian and Jewish residents - the municipality demolishes Arab homes while allowing Jewish settlers to move into occupied Palestinian areas on a fraudulent basis.

The Jerusalem municipality is not alone in this latest aggression against the Palestinian population. In the West Bank, on 17 September Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai announced plans to approve the construction of some 1800 new housing units for the ultra-orthodox settlement Mattiyahu/Kiryat Sefer in the Ramallah region. In a blatant reminder of who controls the "peace process", Mordechai announced this latest settlement expansion the evening before he and President Arafat were set to meet.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment calls on all consulates and Embassies, all concerned international parties and individuals, to fax your letters of protest immediately to the Jerusalem municipality to protest the demolition of these homes. Send your faxes of condemnation to: Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert (972) (2) 249430, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (972) (2) 566 4838.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.