Alarming rise in cases of violence against Palestinians

Ramallah: The Israeli authorities have approved the construction of 16,479 new housing units in Palestinian territories last year.

The Israelis have killed 107 Palestinians, demolished 145 houses and arrested 4,000 Palestinians in the same year.

According to an official statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the violence of the Israelis during 2010 has tremendously gone up.

In occupied East Jerusalem, the statement said that the Israelis have adopted unprecedented violent policy where the 63 houses were demolished, and 15 families were forced out of their properties under the full protection of the Israeli police, and border security.

The Israeli authorities have issued 1,334 demolition orders to Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem during 2010, targeting mainly the Arab neighbourhood of Silwan.

Apart from the approved new housing units, 10,000 housing units have been approved in the colonies in East Jerusalem, where the construction in 1,200 housing units have already started.

The statement warned that 125,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem face threats of losing their residencies in the holy city, where the Palestinian residents ended up with no civil rights, and are not provided with any kind of facilities and services.

The statement said that colonists have burned the Holy Bible Church in occupied Jerusalem, and burned three mosques in different parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank, and issued two demolition orders for two mosques.