Israel demolishes buildings in east Jerusalem, sparking anger

Israel has demolished buildings in an area of annexed east Jerusalem located near some of the city's most important holy sites, prompting anger from Palestinian residents, activists and foreign governments.

"They are trying to break us," said Fakhri Abu Diab, a resident of Silwan neighbourhood where Israeli police forces on Wednesday demolished a cultural centre and a protest encampment, claiming unauthorised construction.

They were located in Silwan's Al-Bustan area, near Jerusalem's Old City that is home to multiple religious sites, and where Israeli settler activity has intensified in recent years.

"It is from here that messages to our community and to the world emanated," said Abu Diab, whose home, along with several others, was destroyed in another demolition last week.

He said the Israelis "wanted to cut off the head" of the anti-settlement movement in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations.

Anti-settlement group Ir Amim said that "this area has for years been under concerted state and settler pressure due to the historical assets within its bounds and its proximity to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and the Old City", referring to Islam's third most holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli authorities have declared part of Silwan a "protected" zone where they plan to create a tourist park on the area of several claimed Jewish religious sites.

The Israeli Jerusalem municipality has cited court decisions ordering the demolition of the Al-Bustan structures deemed "in breach of zoning regulations".

But, according to Ir Amim, the demolitions aim to connect Israeli settlers in Palestinian neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem to the city's Jewish-majority west.

And since Israel's war on Gaza broke out more than a year ago, "home demolitions across east Jerusalem have reached unparallelled levels," said the NGO.

France was "outraged" by the latest demolitions, the French consulate in Jerusalem said in a statement on Wednesday, noting that Paris had supported the razed cultural centre with "more than half a million euros (about $528,000)" since 2019.

Diplomats representing numerous governments, mostly European, have visited Al-Bustan in recent months, to amplify residents' concerns over the uptick in demolitions.

One diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said "the location is so strategically important for settlement" activity in east Jerusalem.

The demolitions went ahead even though "we did everything we could" to convince Israeli authorities otherwise, the diplomat added.

Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital, while Israel claims the entire city as its "unified and indivisible" capital, in breach of UN resolutions.

More than 360,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem as well as some 230,000 Israeli settlers.