Jerusalem Palestinian family forced to demolish house

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli authorities on Saturday forced a Palestinian family to demolish its own house in occupied East Jerusalem, the family members told Anadolu Agency.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Israel had issued an order to demolish the two-apartment house in the Silwan neighborhood, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.</p> <p><br></p> <p>“Israeli authorities gave us until Dec. 10 to demolish our house,” Murad Hashmyeh told Anadolu Agency.</p> <p><br></p> <p>He said 14 people live in the house — half of them children — which was built 20 years ago.</p> <p><br></p> <p>According to Hashmyeh, Israel threatened to charge the family for the demolition.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming Jerusalem as the unified capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.</p> <p><br></p> <p>International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as &quot;occupied territories&quot; and considers all Israeli settlement building on the land to be illegal.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to &quot;Judaize&quot; Jerusalem with the aim of wiping away its Arab and Islamic identity and driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.