Ramallah: Tension is currently building in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, as Israeli forces are set to demolish Arab homes any minute.
Israeli forces have already arrested scores of Palestinians ahead of any ensuing riots. Israeli forces handed Adnan Ghaith, the undersecretary of Fatah in the Silwan neighbourhood a deportation order, where he must leave occupied Jersualem and go anywhere else. Fakhri Abu Diab, a member of the Silwan Defence Committee, told Gulf News that Ghaith was given until 5.00pm occupied Jerusalem time to leave or face arrest and forced deportation.
The Israeli municipality has been issuing demolition orders to Arab residents who do not have building permits. While an Israeli colonist can be issued a building permit in one hour's time, the permits are practically never granted to Arab residents. It has reached a point of humiliation for Palestinians, who demolish their own homes because they cannot afford the demolition fees levied onto them by their occupiers.
Fierce clashes
"The huge deployment of the Israeli forces in Silwan is a bad sign where fierce clashes will erupt should the forces move for the further step," Diab said. "Depending on our modest capabilities, the residents of Silwan will stand in the face of the Israeli forces," he said.
Speaking of his own house in Silwan, Abu Diab told Gulf News that he has received several demolishing orders from the occupied Jerusalem Municipality and that some of those orders were addressed in his own name and the rest were in the name of his wife.
He explained that the land on which his house was built is his own, but his house was built without a building permit, which the Israelis never issue for the occupied Jerusalem Palestinian residents.
"The [occupied] Jerusalem Municipality Court has given me and my wife a sixty-day grace period to appear in court and confess to our violations clearly stating ‘we are guilty' and after that our house will be demolished," he said.
