20 dec 2016
Um Naser, a neighborhood resident, by the settlement built adjacent to her home.
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: The Batan al-Hawa neighborhood, in the heart of Silwan, is the setting for the most extensive expulsion in recent years in East Jerusalem. To date, eviction claims have been filed against 81 Palestinian families that have been living in Batan al-Hawa for decades.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this number reflects a third of all families under threat of dispossession on the basis ethnicity in the city.
Ever since Israel annexed East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities have employed discriminatory policies against the city’s Palestinian residents, and have worked in different ways toward decreasing their number while increasing the number of Jewish residents, with a view to achieving demographic and geographic conditions that would obstruct any future attempts to question Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
As part of these efforts, Israeli authorities have confiscated hundreds of hectares of land from the Palestinian population and built 12 neighborhoods designed exclusively for the Jewish population in the occupied area that was annexed to Israel. In terms of international law, the status of these neighborhoods is no different than that of the settlements elsewhere in the West Bank.
In recent years, in addition to the housing shortage, poor or lacking infrastructure, services and government funding that affect all East Jerusalem residents, various government ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality have mobilized to help the settler organization Ateret Cohamin dispossess Palestinian families living in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, and hand over their homes to Jewish settlers.
Israel’s courts have given the seal of approval to every aspect of this process, despite its being a legal justification for organized state violence in pursuit of an unlawful end – the forcible transfer of protected persons from their homes in an occupied territory.
B’Tselem has undertaken a neighborhood survey, and mapped the processes underway in Batan al-Hawa. According to the survey, the neighborhood is divided into some 50 parcels, nine of which have been handed over to Ateret Cohanim, including five that are already in use by settlers.
To date, Ateret Cohanim has filed eviction claims against 81 families, all living in Parcel 96 which covers 0.26 hectares in the center of the neighborhood. Most of the claims were filed over the course of 2015. The municipality has fined two more families, who live in Parcel No. 84, and issued demolition orders for parts of their homes on the grounds that they had encroached on land that belongs to the settler association.
Ateret Cohanim already has possession of six buildings in the neighborhood, containing 27 housing units, most of which had been home to Palestinian families.
The expulsion of these families from homes they had lived in for decades, purportedly as a measure of law enforcement, as the houses had been Jewish-owned prior to the 1948 War, would make some of the neighborhood’s residents refugees for a second time, after having already been expelled from their homes in that war.
The government dispossession apparatus in action
The Ateret Cohanim association began efforts to seize properties and establish a Jewish settlement in Batan al-Hawa in 2001. It modus operandi rests on manipulating a combination of three laws passed by Israel since 1948, which allow Jews, and Jews only, to demand that the Custodian of Absentee Property hand over ownership rights to property in the annexed area that had been owned by Jews prior to 1948, but ended up beyond the country’s borders after the war.
Settlers sometimes purchase ownership rights from the Jewish heirs to the land. In other cases, aided by the state, they are given permission to manage the trusts that owned the property before 1948.
They then contact the Custodian of Absentee Property who hands over the property to them. Another avenue pursued by the settlers is to have the Custodian sell them property in the neighborhoods directly. These are usually properties where Palestinians live, and the settlers file actions to have them evicted.
In stark contrast to the significant efforts Israel makes to restore property to Jewish ownership, the state does not even allow Palestinians to demand restoration of property they owned in west Jerusalem prior to 1948.
בשנת In 2001, the Jerusalem District Court sanctioned the decision made by the Custodian of Absentee Property to hand over to Ateret Cohanim the management of the Benvenisti Trust, a Jewish trust that operated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries.
In 2002, the Custodian released to the Trust Parcels 95 and 96, where the families now facing eviction live. In 2005, the Custodian sold the association another 0.3-hectare area (Parcels 73, 75, 84 and 97), where ten more Palestinian families live.
The pressure on families who live in a property the settlers want for themselves often puts them in a cruel dilemma – agree to leave in return for significant sums of money, or refuse and still risk losing the property (a very real possibility given the expulsion of other families in the neighborhood), accruing serious debt and suffering harassment.
Tension and violence – an everyday reality
The settler presence has changed the neighborhood. In addition to the hardships that come with the settlers – lawsuits, invasion of privacy, economic duress, daily harassment of residents and the resulting clashes between local youths and the settlers, often involving stone throwing – there is now an added presence of the Israel Police, the Border Police and private security guards paid for by the Ministry of Housing.
They too use violence against Palestinian residents, threaten them, arrest minors and disrupt life. The stronger the hold settlers have in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, the greater the number of Palestinians directly impacted by the settler security apparatus, even without being expelled from their homes.
The end goal: “Judaization” of Jerusalem
The settlement in Batan al-Hawa, advanced by Ateret Cohanim, is part and parcel of the efforts made by the authorities and settler associations to increase and cement Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City Basin: in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and the Palestinian neighborhoods that surround it. There are currently about 2,800 settlers living in some 140 buildings located in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City – an area that is home to about 100,000 Palestinians.
According to figures by the NGOs Peace Now and Ir Amim, the number of settlers living in Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old City Basin has seen a 70% spike between 2009 and 2016. An increase of 39% in the number of new construction sites designated for Jews in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem has also been recorded.
During this time, 68 Palestinian families were evicted in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and the Muslim Quarter, 55 of them over the last two years.
According to UN figures, settler organizations have filed eviction actions against at least 180 Palestinian families throughout East Jerusalem, usually based on claims of ownership over the building and loss of protected tenant status by the Palestinian families. As a result, 818 Palestinians throughout the city, including 372 children, are facing expulsion from their homes.
Report By B’Tselem
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: The Batan al-Hawa neighborhood, in the heart of Silwan, is the setting for the most extensive expulsion in recent years in East Jerusalem. To date, eviction claims have been filed against 81 Palestinian families that have been living in Batan al-Hawa for decades.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this number reflects a third of all families under threat of dispossession on the basis ethnicity in the city.
Ever since Israel annexed East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities have employed discriminatory policies against the city’s Palestinian residents, and have worked in different ways toward decreasing their number while increasing the number of Jewish residents, with a view to achieving demographic and geographic conditions that would obstruct any future attempts to question Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
As part of these efforts, Israeli authorities have confiscated hundreds of hectares of land from the Palestinian population and built 12 neighborhoods designed exclusively for the Jewish population in the occupied area that was annexed to Israel. In terms of international law, the status of these neighborhoods is no different than that of the settlements elsewhere in the West Bank.
In recent years, in addition to the housing shortage, poor or lacking infrastructure, services and government funding that affect all East Jerusalem residents, various government ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality have mobilized to help the settler organization Ateret Cohamin dispossess Palestinian families living in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, and hand over their homes to Jewish settlers.
Israel’s courts have given the seal of approval to every aspect of this process, despite its being a legal justification for organized state violence in pursuit of an unlawful end – the forcible transfer of protected persons from their homes in an occupied territory.
B’Tselem has undertaken a neighborhood survey, and mapped the processes underway in Batan al-Hawa. According to the survey, the neighborhood is divided into some 50 parcels, nine of which have been handed over to Ateret Cohanim, including five that are already in use by settlers.
To date, Ateret Cohanim has filed eviction claims against 81 families, all living in Parcel 96 which covers 0.26 hectares in the center of the neighborhood. Most of the claims were filed over the course of 2015. The municipality has fined two more families, who live in Parcel No. 84, and issued demolition orders for parts of their homes on the grounds that they had encroached on land that belongs to the settler association.
Ateret Cohanim already has possession of six buildings in the neighborhood, containing 27 housing units, most of which had been home to Palestinian families.
The expulsion of these families from homes they had lived in for decades, purportedly as a measure of law enforcement, as the houses had been Jewish-owned prior to the 1948 War, would make some of the neighborhood’s residents refugees for a second time, after having already been expelled from their homes in that war.
The government dispossession apparatus in action
The Ateret Cohanim association began efforts to seize properties and establish a Jewish settlement in Batan al-Hawa in 2001. It modus operandi rests on manipulating a combination of three laws passed by Israel since 1948, which allow Jews, and Jews only, to demand that the Custodian of Absentee Property hand over ownership rights to property in the annexed area that had been owned by Jews prior to 1948, but ended up beyond the country’s borders after the war.
Settlers sometimes purchase ownership rights from the Jewish heirs to the land. In other cases, aided by the state, they are given permission to manage the trusts that owned the property before 1948.
They then contact the Custodian of Absentee Property who hands over the property to them. Another avenue pursued by the settlers is to have the Custodian sell them property in the neighborhoods directly. These are usually properties where Palestinians live, and the settlers file actions to have them evicted.
In stark contrast to the significant efforts Israel makes to restore property to Jewish ownership, the state does not even allow Palestinians to demand restoration of property they owned in west Jerusalem prior to 1948.
בשנת In 2001, the Jerusalem District Court sanctioned the decision made by the Custodian of Absentee Property to hand over to Ateret Cohanim the management of the Benvenisti Trust, a Jewish trust that operated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries.
In 2002, the Custodian released to the Trust Parcels 95 and 96, where the families now facing eviction live. In 2005, the Custodian sold the association another 0.3-hectare area (Parcels 73, 75, 84 and 97), where ten more Palestinian families live.
The pressure on families who live in a property the settlers want for themselves often puts them in a cruel dilemma – agree to leave in return for significant sums of money, or refuse and still risk losing the property (a very real possibility given the expulsion of other families in the neighborhood), accruing serious debt and suffering harassment.
Tension and violence – an everyday reality
The settler presence has changed the neighborhood. In addition to the hardships that come with the settlers – lawsuits, invasion of privacy, economic duress, daily harassment of residents and the resulting clashes between local youths and the settlers, often involving stone throwing – there is now an added presence of the Israel Police, the Border Police and private security guards paid for by the Ministry of Housing.
They too use violence against Palestinian residents, threaten them, arrest minors and disrupt life. The stronger the hold settlers have in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, the greater the number of Palestinians directly impacted by the settler security apparatus, even without being expelled from their homes.
The end goal: “Judaization” of Jerusalem
The settlement in Batan al-Hawa, advanced by Ateret Cohanim, is part and parcel of the efforts made by the authorities and settler associations to increase and cement Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City Basin: in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and the Palestinian neighborhoods that surround it. There are currently about 2,800 settlers living in some 140 buildings located in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City – an area that is home to about 100,000 Palestinians.
According to figures by the NGOs Peace Now and Ir Amim, the number of settlers living in Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old City Basin has seen a 70% spike between 2009 and 2016. An increase of 39% in the number of new construction sites designated for Jews in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem has also been recorded.
During this time, 68 Palestinian families were evicted in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and the Muslim Quarter, 55 of them over the last two years.
According to UN figures, settler organizations have filed eviction actions against at least 180 Palestinian families throughout East Jerusalem, usually based on claims of ownership over the building and loss of protected tenant status by the Palestinian families. As a result, 818 Palestinians throughout the city, including 372 children, are facing expulsion from their homes.
Report By B’Tselem
19 dec 2016
Salama Maarouf, general manager of the government media office in Gaza, called in a press conference held on Sunday evening for cancelling Israel’s membership from the International Federation of Journalists.
Maarouf pointed out that Israel carried out more than 600 press violations since the beginning of 2016 in total violation of international laws and norms.
The reported 600 press violations include the killing of 53 Palestinian journalists and the arrest of 137 others, 24 of them are still held behind Israeli bars.
Maarouf hailed the heroic sacrifices made by the Palestinian journalists to expose Israel’s ugly image.
He announced the start of the day of solidarity with Palestinian journalists on December 31st that would include various activities in support of journalists.
He pointed out that the activities would continue for ten days, with cooperation from several institutions.
He added that the activities will begin with the football championship and with the cooperation of several institutions, including the Ministry of Sports and Amwaj Media. The football league designated a Palestinian journalist day championship for December 21st and 22nd.
The Palestinian government in Gaza has adopted the date of December 31st, each year, to honor the Palestinian journalists, in recognition of their sacrifices.
Maarouf pointed out that Israel carried out more than 600 press violations since the beginning of 2016 in total violation of international laws and norms.
The reported 600 press violations include the killing of 53 Palestinian journalists and the arrest of 137 others, 24 of them are still held behind Israeli bars.
Maarouf hailed the heroic sacrifices made by the Palestinian journalists to expose Israel’s ugly image.
He announced the start of the day of solidarity with Palestinian journalists on December 31st that would include various activities in support of journalists.
He pointed out that the activities would continue for ten days, with cooperation from several institutions.
He added that the activities will begin with the football championship and with the cooperation of several institutions, including the Ministry of Sports and Amwaj Media. The football league designated a Palestinian journalist day championship for December 21st and 22nd.
The Palestinian government in Gaza has adopted the date of December 31st, each year, to honor the Palestinian journalists, in recognition of their sacrifices.
16 dec 2016
In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 08 – 14 December 2016, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that Israeli forces continued systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A Palestinian boy was killed at Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and another civilian was killed in occupied Jerusalem. A peace activist was wounded in al-Eisawiya village, north of Jerusalem.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank:
During the past week, Israeli forces conducted 56 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 10 in occupied Jerusalem. 76 civilians, including 13 children and a journalist, were abducted. Twenty-three of them, including 11 children and the journalist, were abducted in occupied Jerusalem.
In the West Bank, in excessive use of deadly force, on 08 December 2016, Israeli forces stationed at Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, killed a Palestinian boy from Qalqilya. Israeli forces claimed the boy attempted to stab Israeli soldiers and settlers at the checkpoint, therefore, they opened fire at him. They kept his corpse in custody.
In a similar crime, on 14 December 2016, Israeli forces opened fire at a Palestinian young man who was present near the Hospice Hotel in al-Wad neighbourhood in East Jerusalem’s Old City. As a result, he sustained over 10 bullet wounds throughout his body. He was left bleeding for over half an hour, as Israeli forces prevented paramedics and doctors from offering first aid to him. Israeli forces then transported him to Hadassa Hospital as his health condition was critical, but he was pronounced dead on the same day evening. Israeli forces claimed the aforementioned person stabbed an Israeli soldier.
On 12 December 2016, an Israeli soldier fired a rubber-coated metal bullet at Mohammed Abu al-Hommos, an activist in al-Eisawiya follow-up committee, northeast of Jerusalem, as he was documenting the Israeli violations during an Israeli incursion in the village. As a result Abu al-Hommos sustained a bullet wound to the left leg and was then transported to a medical centre for medical treatment.
Also this week, Bir Zeit University was raided and belongings of student unions were confiscated.
Dozens of temporary checkpoints were established in the West Bank and others were re-established to obstruct the movement of Palestinian civilians. 7 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were abducted at military checkpoints.
In the context of house demolitions, on 08 December 2016, two families were obliged to self-demolish parts of their building in Sweih neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
On 13 December 2016, Israeli forces demolished a residential barrack, a storage barrack and a commercial facility in sour Baher village, south of occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext they were close to the annexation wall.
In the context of targeting NGOs in occupied Jerusalem, on 08 December 2016, Israeli forces raided Elia for Media office in Saladin Street. They searched it and confiscated 3 PC sets and some documents. They then abducted journalist Lama Hani Ghousha (25), questioned her and released her later.
On the same day, Israeli forces raided the Palestinian National Theater “al-Hakawati” and banned a musical activity under the pretext it was organized by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On 09 December 2016, Israeli forces raided and searched Mada Center for Creativity in Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:
In the Gaza Strip, in the context of targeting Palestinian fishermen in the sea, on 11 December 2016, Israeli gunboats stationed off Khan Younis shore in the southern Gaza Strip heavily opened fire around Palestinian fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area. A similar attack occurred in the same area on 12 December 2016. The fishermen sailed back fearing for their lives. Neither casualties nor material damage were reported.
Israeli settlement activities:
Israeli Settlement activities continued in the West Bank by both Israeli soldiers and settlers,
On 12 December 2016, Israeli forces confiscated a container used as a restaurant in Koza area at the main entrance to Beita village, south of Nablus. The container belongs to Mahmoud Ouda, whose restaurant was demolished on 03 November 2016. Therefore, he set up the container to make a living.
On 13 December 2016, Israeli forces confiscated a caravan used as a mobile clinic in Kherbet al-Markaz, east of Yatta, south of Hebron. This caravan works under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Health and offer services to about 120 civilians in Kherbet al-Markaz and Kherbet Janaba.
In the same context, a group of settlers from “Adi Ad” settlement outpost attacked a plot of land and cut down 190 olive trees on 11 December 2016.
Israeli attacks on non-violent demonstrations:
In the context of force used against peaceful protests, Israeli forces forcibly dispersed protests organized by dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights activists against the annexation wall and settlement activities in Bil’in and Ni’lin villages, west of Ramallah; al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the city; Termis’ya village, northeast of the city; and Kufor Qaddoum village, northeast of Qalqilya. As a result, dozens of protesters suffered tear gas inhalation and other sustained bruises as they were beaten up by Israeli soldiers.
Recommendations to the international community:
Due to the number and severity of Israeli human rights violations this week, the PCHR made several recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the international community and the United Nations use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination, through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine;
For the full text of the report, click here.
A Palestinian boy was killed at Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and another civilian was killed in occupied Jerusalem. A peace activist was wounded in al-Eisawiya village, north of Jerusalem.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank:
During the past week, Israeli forces conducted 56 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 10 in occupied Jerusalem. 76 civilians, including 13 children and a journalist, were abducted. Twenty-three of them, including 11 children and the journalist, were abducted in occupied Jerusalem.
In the West Bank, in excessive use of deadly force, on 08 December 2016, Israeli forces stationed at Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, killed a Palestinian boy from Qalqilya. Israeli forces claimed the boy attempted to stab Israeli soldiers and settlers at the checkpoint, therefore, they opened fire at him. They kept his corpse in custody.
In a similar crime, on 14 December 2016, Israeli forces opened fire at a Palestinian young man who was present near the Hospice Hotel in al-Wad neighbourhood in East Jerusalem’s Old City. As a result, he sustained over 10 bullet wounds throughout his body. He was left bleeding for over half an hour, as Israeli forces prevented paramedics and doctors from offering first aid to him. Israeli forces then transported him to Hadassa Hospital as his health condition was critical, but he was pronounced dead on the same day evening. Israeli forces claimed the aforementioned person stabbed an Israeli soldier.
On 12 December 2016, an Israeli soldier fired a rubber-coated metal bullet at Mohammed Abu al-Hommos, an activist in al-Eisawiya follow-up committee, northeast of Jerusalem, as he was documenting the Israeli violations during an Israeli incursion in the village. As a result Abu al-Hommos sustained a bullet wound to the left leg and was then transported to a medical centre for medical treatment.
Also this week, Bir Zeit University was raided and belongings of student unions were confiscated.
Dozens of temporary checkpoints were established in the West Bank and others were re-established to obstruct the movement of Palestinian civilians. 7 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were abducted at military checkpoints.
In the context of house demolitions, on 08 December 2016, two families were obliged to self-demolish parts of their building in Sweih neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
On 13 December 2016, Israeli forces demolished a residential barrack, a storage barrack and a commercial facility in sour Baher village, south of occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext they were close to the annexation wall.
In the context of targeting NGOs in occupied Jerusalem, on 08 December 2016, Israeli forces raided Elia for Media office in Saladin Street. They searched it and confiscated 3 PC sets and some documents. They then abducted journalist Lama Hani Ghousha (25), questioned her and released her later.
On the same day, Israeli forces raided the Palestinian National Theater “al-Hakawati” and banned a musical activity under the pretext it was organized by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On 09 December 2016, Israeli forces raided and searched Mada Center for Creativity in Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip:
In the Gaza Strip, in the context of targeting Palestinian fishermen in the sea, on 11 December 2016, Israeli gunboats stationed off Khan Younis shore in the southern Gaza Strip heavily opened fire around Palestinian fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area. A similar attack occurred in the same area on 12 December 2016. The fishermen sailed back fearing for their lives. Neither casualties nor material damage were reported.
Israeli settlement activities:
Israeli Settlement activities continued in the West Bank by both Israeli soldiers and settlers,
On 12 December 2016, Israeli forces confiscated a container used as a restaurant in Koza area at the main entrance to Beita village, south of Nablus. The container belongs to Mahmoud Ouda, whose restaurant was demolished on 03 November 2016. Therefore, he set up the container to make a living.
On 13 December 2016, Israeli forces confiscated a caravan used as a mobile clinic in Kherbet al-Markaz, east of Yatta, south of Hebron. This caravan works under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Health and offer services to about 120 civilians in Kherbet al-Markaz and Kherbet Janaba.
In the same context, a group of settlers from “Adi Ad” settlement outpost attacked a plot of land and cut down 190 olive trees on 11 December 2016.
Israeli attacks on non-violent demonstrations:
In the context of force used against peaceful protests, Israeli forces forcibly dispersed protests organized by dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights activists against the annexation wall and settlement activities in Bil’in and Ni’lin villages, west of Ramallah; al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the city; Termis’ya village, northeast of the city; and Kufor Qaddoum village, northeast of Qalqilya. As a result, dozens of protesters suffered tear gas inhalation and other sustained bruises as they were beaten up by Israeli soldiers.
Recommendations to the international community:
Due to the number and severity of Israeli human rights violations this week, the PCHR made several recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the international community and the United Nations use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination, through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine;
For the full text of the report, click here.
11 dec 2016
85% of Palestinians living in Israel are subjected to discrimination in housing, health services, and education.
A poll released on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day found out that 85% of Palestinians feel insecure as a result of discrimination between Arabs and Israelis in the Green Line (1948 Occupied Palestine).
According to the poll, Palestinians face oppression and racism mostly in Negev, where the Israeli authorities stepped up demolitions against civilian homes. Palestinian villages have also been subjected to abrupt demolitions in favor of illegal settlement.
A poll released on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day found out that 85% of Palestinians feel insecure as a result of discrimination between Arabs and Israelis in the Green Line (1948 Occupied Palestine).
According to the poll, Palestinians face oppression and racism mostly in Negev, where the Israeli authorities stepped up demolitions against civilian homes. Palestinian villages have also been subjected to abrupt demolitions in favor of illegal settlement.
3 dec 2016
The Old City of Jerusalem, which is exposed to ongoing Judaization activities, has been listed recently by the UNESCO among its endangered world heritage sites.
55 out of 1,052 heritage sites around the world, including the Old City in Jerusalem, feature on the UN cultural organization’s List of World Heritage in Danger.
The sites in danger also include the archaeological city of Samarra, Tomb of Askia in Mali, and the ancient cities of Sana’a, Damascus and Aleppo.
Conflicts, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, uncontrolled urbanization and unchecked tourism development pose major problems to these world heritage sites, UNESCO says.
These sites are exposed to two types of dangers, either ascertained or potential threats, according to its classification.
55 out of 1,052 heritage sites around the world, including the Old City in Jerusalem, feature on the UN cultural organization’s List of World Heritage in Danger.
The sites in danger also include the archaeological city of Samarra, Tomb of Askia in Mali, and the ancient cities of Sana’a, Damascus and Aleppo.
Conflicts, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, uncontrolled urbanization and unchecked tourism development pose major problems to these world heritage sites, UNESCO says.
These sites are exposed to two types of dangers, either ascertained or potential threats, according to its classification.
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