OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli municipality started the new year in Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday by displacing a Palestinian family in al-Walaja town, south of the holy city.
According to local sources, an Israeli bulldozer escorted by police forces demolished a house belonging to the family of Abu Rizq and displaced its residents.
A family of five, mostly children, were rendered homeless as a result of the Israeli measure.
The Israeli municipality carried out the demolition with no prior notice and without even allowing the family to remove the furniture.
As always, the municipality justified its measure by claiming that the house had been built with no permit.
Al-Walaja residents have been facing an Israeli demolition campaign and settlement expansion for long years.
Local officials and organizations believe that the Israeli occupation authority plans to seize the area of al-Walaja in order to carry out settlement projects and connect Jewish settlements with each other.
According to the Hebrew media, Israel plans to build 800 housing units for settlers in al-Walaja area at the pretext it is state land.
