Senior Palestinian official warns of land seizure in East Jerusalem

Thursday November 01, 2007 14:45 by Rasheed Hilal - IMEMC News

Over the past three weeks more than six thousand dunums of lands of the east Jerusalem surroundings were confiscated under the terms of Israel's so called 'E2 plan', stated Hatim Abed al Qader, advisor of Jerusalem affairs for the Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr Salam Fayyad, on Wednesday.

His comments came during a press conference held in the Palestinian Ministry of Information, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Abed al Qader presented evidence of the Israeli government's plan to completely annex East Jerusalem to make it part of Israel.

This comes just as six American Jewish organizations called on Israel to "keep Jerusalem Jewish" - which, in itself, is an ironic call, since the city is majority Palestinian.  But according to Abed al Qader, Israel is planning to change that demographic reality by annexing east Jerusalem using the construction of the Annexation Wall, and forcing Palestinian residents out.

He noted the recent annexation of eight thousand dunums of land around Abu Dis, the Palestinian neighborhood where Israel plans to expand its massive East Jerusalem settlement of Maale Adumim, and 1200 dunums of land seized by Israel to create a bypass road from Maale Adumim to other Israeli settlements.

Abed al Qader pointed out that the future of a Palestinian state would be threatened if this plan was implemented. According to Abed al Qader, these settlement plans would isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories.

It also would divide the West Bank into southern and northern parts. He further clarified that Israel had started to implement an ethnic cleansing policy against the residents of the city using a variety of techniques, including home demolition - regardless of whether the homes have the right permits or not, ongoing digging under the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the construction of a metal bridge near the Mughrabi gate in Old Jerusalem to facilitate access for the Jewish extremists to break into the mosque.

He noted that the Israeli government is imposing an embargo on the Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem, one of which is al Mutale' hospital.  Al Mutale' hospital was apparently visited by the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) after the Israeli government reported it to the IAEA as a possible nuclear site.  Upon inspection, the IAEA found that the hospital had merely established a cancer ward with cancer therapy equipment.

Abed Al Qader indicated his dissatisfaction with the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas for not placing Jerusalem at the top of his government's priority list, while the Israeli government prioritizes the seizure of Jerusalem from the Palestinians.

translated by Manar Jibrin, edited by Saed Bannoura

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