Israel demolishes residential building in east Jerusalem

AFP | Jerusalem

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Israeli bulldozers tore through a four-storey residential building in east Jerusalem yesterday, displacing scores of Palestinians in what activists said was the largest such demolition in the area this year.

The building, located in the Silwan neighbourhood near the Old City, comprised a dozen apartments housing approximately 100 people, many of them women, children and elderly residents.

It was the latest in a series of buildings to be torn down as Israeli officials target what they describe as unauthorised structures in annexed east Jerusalem. “The demolition is a tragedy for all residents,” Eid Shawar, who lives in the building, told AFP. “They broke down the door while we were asleep and told us we could only change our clothes and take essential papers and documents,” said the father of five.

With nowhere else to go, Shawar said his seven-member family would have to sleep in his car.

Three bulldozers began ripping into the structure early on Monday as residents looked on, their clothes and belongings scattered across nearby streets, an AFP journalist saw.

Israeli police cordoned off surrounding roads, with security forces deployed across the area and positioned on rooftops of neighbouring houses.

Built on privately owned Palestinian land, the building had been slated for demolition for lacking a permit, activists said.Palestinians face severe obstacles in obtaining building permits due to Israel’s restrictive planning policies, according to activists, an issue that has fuelled tensions in east Jerusalem and across the occupied West Bank for years.