Ramallah, 13-12-07: The demolition of eight Palestinian homes in Jerusalem since the Annapolis meeting on 27 November 2007, together with the 4 December announcement by the Israeli Housing Ministry that it plans to build an additional 307 housing units in the illegal Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa, are yet further proof of Israel‘s refusal to negotiate on the core issue of Jerusalem, and its desire to annex as much of the occupied city as possible before it accepts any final peace deal, said PNI Secretary General Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi today.
The Israeli military began destroying the Kawaje family home in Jerusalem‘s Old City early on Tuesday morning because of the lack of a building permit. The Israeli authorities rarely grant Palestinian Jerusalemites building permits - even though they own the land and pay their municipal rates and taxes on that land - a policy designed to gradually drive Palestinians from the occupied city.
The demolition comes just two weeks after Ehud Olmert declared in his speech at Annapolis that Israel "will deal with all the core issues", and that Israel will abide by all its commitments under the Roadmap, the same Roadmap which calls specifically on Israel to immediately freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth.
Dr. Barghouthi added that "when Israel demolishes eight Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in two weeks, when it continues to shamelessly expand illegal settlements in Jerusalem during and immediately after Annapolis, and while it maintains its siege on the Gaza Strip, it is clear that Prime Minister Olmert has no commitment to achieving real peace."
He concluded that Israel is using current negotiations as a cover to transform facts on the ground to create a Palestinian Bantustan state within temporary borders, based on an Apartheid system. He called on Palestinians to unite to face this danger, and for concerted international pressure on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and end the siege on Gaza.