Israeli plot to demolish more Palestinian homes amounts to 'ethnic cleansing': Rights group

A human rights group has strongly denounced a fresh Israeli decision of razing more Palestinian homes and structures in Occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, stressing that such a plot would lead to massive destruction and amount to "ethnic cleansing" across the occupied Palestinian lands.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in a statement warned that the planned destruction operations were characterized by racial discrimination committed by the Israeli army, the Palestinian Information Center reported. 

“The Israeli decisions coincide with the authorities' establishment of settlement projects in the heart of Palestinian communities in east Jerusalem to perpetuate a policy of racial discrimination against the Palestinian population,” the statement read.

The nonprofit organization for the protection of rights also said the scheme would pave the way for a massive destruction and displacement against the native population in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

"Thus, 19 households from eight families, comprising 78 people, of whom 28 are children, remain threatened with forced displacement at any moment,” Euro-Med noted.

“While the Israeli authorities insist on eviction decisions against Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the municipality has approved establishing a memorial for soldiers of a battalion in the Israeli army paratroopers brigade killed during the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967,” the right group further pointed out. 

Elsewhere in the statement, the group voiced concern over the ongoing Israeli demolition campaign in Silwan neighborhood adjacent to the al- Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem al-Quds, which places dozens of Palestinian homes under threat of demolition at any moment.

Euro-Med Monitor calls on the international community and the United Nations to shoulder their responsibilities in stopping Israeli violations and urgently intervening to stop house demolition plans and change the city's demographic reality.

United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory Lynn Hastings said in a statement that the recent Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes and evacuation of local residents and confiscation of their lands contravened international law, and were all in flagrant violation of human rights law.

Israeli authorities usually demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, claiming that the structures have been built without permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain.

They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality if they do not.

The latest surge in demolition has drawn widespread condemnation against the Israeli regime for exploiting the coronavirus crisis to press ahead with its campaign of razing Palestinian homes.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a plan for grabbing a huge swathe of the West Bank, namely the areas upon which the regime has built its illegal settlements since occupying the territory in 1967, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. He made the announcement after former US President Donald Trump unveiled the “deal of the century,” a hugely pro-Tel Aviv scheme.

Following the signing of normalization agreements with Israel by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, there has been a rapid increase in Tel Aviv's demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds.

The rise is coupled with an increase in deportation of Palestinians from Jerusalem al-Quds, their expulsion from al-Aqsa Mosque and daily storming of the compound by extremist Israeli settlers.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.  

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

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