AFP
Jewish settlers moved into a house in the Al-Tur district of occupied east Jerusalem on Wednesday, just hours after Israeli officials razed another Palestinian home in the same neighbourhood.
Scores of police were at the scene as a single bulldozer razed the small house near the Mount of Olives, in an operation that was completed shortly before the owner turned up with a court order to halt the demolition.
Abed Zablah showed AFP a Jerusalem court order issued early on Wednesday but, by the time he reached home with the document, it was too late.
"Around 15 people entered the house which is next door to another house which has been taken over by settlers," said Assaf Sharon, who belongs to an Israeli-Palestinian group which tries to stop settlers from taking over Arab homes in east Jerusalem.
Sharon said the building, which had stayed empty for two years due to a court order, had been purchased by Lowell Investments. A foreign firm, it is believed to be a front for the right-wing Elad movement that seeks to settle Jews in mainly Arab east Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, Lowell Investment was involved in the takeover of another Palestinian house in the Jabal Mukaber neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.
Permits for Palestinians to build in east Jerusalem are extremely rare and Israel frequently issues demolition orders despite the sensitive nature of such operations on land the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday destroyed at least two Palestinian buildings used to house livestock and a tent in Massua near the border with Jordan.
A military spokesman said they were demolished because they had been "erected illegally on public land."
Palestinians in the area told AFP at least seven structures were razed, including some that were demolished with animals still inside.
One witness, who declined to be identified, said "more than seven houses and sheds were completely destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, along with watertanks, and a large number of livestock also died in the rubble of the structures."
© 2010 AFP
Jewish settlers moved into a house in the Al-Tur district of occupied east Jerusalem on Wednesday, just hours after Israeli officials razed another Palestinian home in the same neighbourhood.
Scores of police were at the scene as a single bulldozer razed the small house near the Mount of Olives, in an operation that was completed shortly before the owner turned up with a court order to halt the demolition.
Abed Zablah showed AFP a Jerusalem court order issued early on Wednesday but, by the time he reached home with the document, it was too late.
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Shortly afterwards, some 15 Jewish settlers, accompanied by dozens of police, took over a house in another part of the district, an Israeli peace activist told AFP."Around 15 people entered the house which is next door to another house which has been taken over by settlers," said Assaf Sharon, who belongs to an Israeli-Palestinian group which tries to stop settlers from taking over Arab homes in east Jerusalem.
Sharon said the building, which had stayed empty for two years due to a court order, had been purchased by Lowell Investments. A foreign firm, it is believed to be a front for the right-wing Elad movement that seeks to settle Jews in mainly Arab east Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, Lowell Investment was involved in the takeover of another Palestinian house in the Jabal Mukaber neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.
Permits for Palestinians to build in east Jerusalem are extremely rare and Israel frequently issues demolition orders despite the sensitive nature of such operations on land the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday destroyed at least two Palestinian buildings used to house livestock and a tent in Massua near the border with Jordan.
A military spokesman said they were demolished because they had been "erected illegally on public land."
Palestinians in the area told AFP at least seven structures were razed, including some that were demolished with animals still inside.
One witness, who declined to be identified, said "more than seven houses and sheds were completely destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, along with watertanks, and a large number of livestock also died in the rubble of the structures."
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