1/3 of Jerusalem homes for demolition

According to a  report, details of which are at PNN: http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/5800-1-3-of-jerusalemite-homes-threatened-with-demolition one third of non-Jewish homes in Jerusalem have been listed for demolition; the usual excuse being that they were built or repaired without permission. Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights revealed in a report on Thursday 26th September. According to the human rights group, Israeli authorities are
continuing their demographic war against Palestinians in the Holy City, as they only allocated 13 % of the area of occupied East Jerusalem for Palestinians to meet the needs of their growing population. The report added that the Israeli colonisation activity in Jerusalem is increasing, as the financial committee of the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality approved financial support for 1,500 new housing units at the end of August. The Euro-Mid pointed out that Israel’s bulldozers began in the same month to demolish homes in al-Tur neighbourhood, in order to establish the National Israeli Park”. The report included figures from the United Nations (UN) that show an increase in poverty rates among Palestinians in Jerusalem, due to high unemployment rates. According to Euro-Mid, the unemployment rate rose to 78% in 2012 compared to 64% in 2006, stressing that more than 40% of Palestinian Jerusalemites now live below the poverty line.

Israeli court to rule on property theft

 <http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=628528>
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Sept — Israel’s high court on Tuesday will discuss
whether to apply a controversial law in East Jerusalem which would enable
the Israeli government to seize private Palestinian property. The
Absentees’ Property Law (1950) was originally enacted to transfer the
property of Palestinian refugees, who had been forcibly displaced in 1948,
to the state of Israel. A court hearing on Tuesday will determine whether
the law can be applied to property in East Jerusalem which is owned by
Palestinians who live in the occupied West Bank. In June, Israeli attorney
general Yehuda Weinstein wrote a recommendation to the Israeli government
which supported applying the law to Palestinians residing outside of
Israel’s unilaterally declared Jerusalem boundaries. In effect, the law
would mean that Palestinians forced to flee their Jerusalem properties, who
now reside in the occupied West Bank, would be considered “absentees,”
enabling the Israeli government to seize their land.
  www.maannews.net<http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=628528>

 Palestinian in Kafkaesque battle over family’s hotel
<http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-palestinian-hotel-lawsuit-20130909,0,1873058.story>
ABU DIS, West Bank (Los Angeles Times) 9 Sept by Edmund Sanders — The year
Ali Ayad was born, his father broke ground on a majestic home perched on a
bluff overlooking Jerusalem, with views of the Dead Sea in one direction
and the golden Dome of the Rock in the other. For all of his 59 years,
Ayad’s life has revolved around the 1-acre plot. He played under the olive
trees as a boy and became manager after the home was converted into the
Cliff Hotel. He met his Norwegian wife from behind the reception desk,
married her in the dining room and raised two daughters amid the daily
bustle of visiting tourists and diplomats. But the idyllic life turned into
what he describes as a Kafkaesque nightmare a decade ago after Israel
seized control of the hotel. Using a combination of military orders and a
controversial absentee-owner law, the government kicked him off the
property, banned him from returning and then "confiscated" it as abandoned.

Colonial expansion continues despite 'talks'

Leshim_settlement _active_stills

Army uproots lands to build 'settlement' units in
Salfit<http://www.imemc.org/article/66051>
IMEMC 1 Sept — Local sources in Salfit district, in the central part of the
West Bank, have reported that Israeli bulldozers uprooted Palestinian lands
west of Salfit, in preparation for building new units in Leshim illegal settlement. The lands are located between Deir Ballout and Kufr Ad-Deek towns. Leshim was built last year on privately owned Palestinian lands.
Israeli Housing Minister, Uri Ariel, placed the corner stone of the illegal
settlement. The Salfit district is one of the most impacted districts due
to Israel’s illegal settlement activities as it contains 23 Israeli
settlements swallowing more than half of Salfit’s farmlands. It is worth
mentioning that there are 18 Palestinian towns and villages in the Salfit
District.