The ruling ends a ten-year battle over the Jewish settlement, built on Arab owned land.
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Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now reported on July 23 that the Israeli military approved 541 new housing units, retroactively legalized 228 existing housing units, and approved infrastructure for a plan that includes 296 housing units in the occupied West Bank the previous day.
On the other hand, the Israelis claimed that it raided the holy site to root out rioting Palestinians.
Israel works at decreasing the Palestinian population in occupied Jerusalem to approximately 15% of the total population of the city, the PA official continued. Various steps have been adopted to achieve this objective, including the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, land appropriation, and discriminatory policies on planning and construction and budget allotment. They know that demolition means “transfer” of their properties to Israeli colonist settlers. Tempers are high among some in the settler community as it marks a decade since Israel’s “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip, when Israel in the summer of 2005 withdrew all its civilians and soldiers from all of the settlements there and also from two in the West Bank.
“He reiterates that settlements are illegal under worldwide law, an impediment to peace, and can not be reconciled with the Government of Israel’s stated intention to pursue a two-state solution”, a statement issued by the secretary-general’s spokesperson said. The Israeli government said the Arab settlement did not have a permit to build in the “EL corridor”, an area overlooking Jerusalem.
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The demolition of the Israeli settlement on Wednesday has provoked violent criticism towards the Supreme Court, by right-wing lawmakers. Either way, yet another humanitarian project is destroyed and people are left without homes.
