Pressure mounts against Israeli evictions

Mahmoud Abu Abassi collects garbage for an Israeli company and lives in a tent with seven other members of his family. Until Monday he lived in a house in East Jerusalem, but Israeli bulldozers razed it to the ground as part of the Jewish state’s efforts to evict Palestinians from a city that is at the heart of negotiations over a future Israeli-Palestinian peace.

In the latest attempt to pressure Israel to halt Palestinian eviction and settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories several Israeli dignitaries pressed Israel to annul demolition orders and the British embassy in Tel Aviv withdrew Wednesday from a real estate deal with an Israeli tycoon involved in settlement construction.

Twenty-three Israeli dignitaries signed a letter protesting Israel's settlement plans and its ongoing eviction of Palestinians. The writers addressed Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat whose municipality is in charge of carrying out demolition orders issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior.

"The city authority's policies over the past decades have created a situation in which thousands of people are not able to have a roof over their heads in land that belongs to them," they wrote.

The letter stressed the "distress of families that can any day find themselves without shelter after the destruction of their homes," and criticized the government for the low number of permits given to Palestinians in East Jerusalem, thus forcing them "to build without authorization," even though they own the land.

Such policies "violate the obligations that Israel has toward civilians under its control and elementary human rights," said the letter, whose signatories included famed writers Amos Oz and David Grossman.

Dr. Meir Margalit, the man behind the letter campaign and a member of East Jerusalem’s municipal council, said the initiative hoped to increase pressure within Israeli society.

"It intends to show that there are Israeli citizens who oppose the government's settlement plans," he told AlArabiya.net. "The letter addresses Nir Barkat because he is the man who sends the bulldozers [to demolish homes]."

The letter addresses Nir Barkat because he is the man who sends the bulldozers to demolish homes

Dr. Meir Margalit, Municipality of Jerusalem

Manipulating demographics

The Palestinian Authority and other opponents say demolitions are a political matter intended to manipulate demographics in order to turn Jerusalem’s Old City into a predominantly Jewish area.

Hatem Abdel Qader, a Palestinian Authority adviser on Jerusalem affairs, told AlArabiya.net that Israel's move came a day before Hillary Clinton's arrival and was "a message to Palestinians that house demolitions will go on."

Council member Margalit said demolitions are part of a demographic and political plan to diminish the presence of Arabs in Jerusalem and create an all-Jewish capital before the government comes to the negotiating table.

"The government wants to surround the Old City with a strip of Jewish settlements before the future of Jerusalem as a Jewish or Palestinian capital is decided," said Marglit, adding that 200 apartments for future Jewish settlers have already been built in Silwan’s Sheikh Jarrah district in an effort to turn the area into a Jewish compound.

Jerusalem is the center of contention in peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.

"With an all Jewish residency and Arabs out of the picture, the government can claim Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel," said Margalit.

291 homes in East Jerusalem were demolished in 2008 and 35 in 2009 for not having building permits, which Israel rarely grants to Arabs in East Jerusalem, according to Israeli Committee against House Demolitions and the Israeli B'Tselem human rights organization.

Abassi lost his home on Monday as two bulldozers and nearly a dozen policemen arrived at his home at 8:30 a.m. with no prior warning.

"My neighbors tell me two bulldozers came in the morning after I left for work and razed the house. Eight of us lived in this house. My family had no time to save whatever we had," Abbasi told AlArabiya.net, adding that he applied for a permit and was refused one. He works as a garbage collector for an Israeli company.

My family had no time to save whatever we had

Mahmoud Abu Abassi, Silwan resident

"Everyone in Silwan faces the same fate," he said. He now lives in a tent next to the rubble of his home.

Over the past several weeks, Palestinian owners of 88 houses in the Silwan neighborhood received demolition orders saying homes will be razed because they were built or expanded without the necessary permits. The move would affect about 1,500 people. Silwan, which is annexed to the Old City, is home to 50,000 Palestinians.

Sixty Jewish families also live in the neighborhood around the City of David archaeological park, which Israeli authorities say was the capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom.

Margalit explained that the municipality's annual budget includes around $1 million for home demolition, which the municipality implements at the behest of the Israeli court. The municipality, however, has the power to delay the process and to choose which homes to raze.

"The municipality cannot cancel the demolition orders but they can prevent demolition by delaying and arguing that they have other priorities," said the councilmember.

The municipality cannot cancel the demolition orders but they can prevent demolition by delaying and arguing that they have other priorities

Dr. Meir Margalit, Municipality of Jerusalem

British Embassy scraps deal

Meanwhile, the British embassy in Tel Aviv backed out on leasing an office in a high-rise tower owned by Africa-Israel, a company belonging to tycoon Lev Leviev, citing its involvement in settlement construction in the West Bank as a "cause of concern."

The decision "was a result of inquiry into the company's activities," the British Foreign Ministry's press office told AlArabiya.net, adding that "Africa-Israel's response regarding its involvement in settlements failed to assuage Britain's concerns."

Leviev, a prominent cutter and polisher of diamonds whose company is worth an estimated $4.5 billion, was the center of controversy last year when a group of Hollywood stars demanded the removal of their images from a diamond advertisement campaign because of his company's involvement in Israeli settlement expansion and human rights violations in Africa.

The actresses included Hollywood stars Salma Hayek, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie Macdowell, and Lucy Liu.

The United Nations children’s fund UNICEF and the international aid organization Oxfam also refused to receive donations from Leviev for the same reasons.

Profits from Leviev's company fund the building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian Occupied Territories, systematically displacing and disenfranchising Palestinians.