Israel's mayor of Occupied Jerusalem rebuffed on Thursday Palestinian and Western calls for a halt to demolitions in the city's Arab half, saying laws that prohibit illegal building were being enforced. Mayor Nir Barkat said his goal was to maintain a Jewish majority in Occupied Jerusalem but denied that demolitions of Palestinian homes were meant to drive them out.
The demolitions, and calls by Barkat to expand Jewish settlements on occupied land, have stoked tensions in the city, and put Israel on a possible collision course with its US and European allies.
All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law, which prohibits colonization.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the demolitions, and the proposed construction of new homes on West Bank land, "will mean killing the two-state solution forever."
Barkat said the demolitions were not politically motivated.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month the practice was "unhelpful."
Israel's Occupied Jerusalem municipality said demolition orders are issued in cases in which houses are constructed without building permits and are carried out after court review. Palestinians say they find it nearly impossible to obtain such permits.
"Me, as mayor, and the legal system in Israel, are obliged to make sure people fulfill the law," Barkat said in an interview with a group of reporters.
He said he wants to improve the quality of life for residents of Occupied East Jerusalem, including by increasing the number of building permits.
"I have to serve the Palestinians living in [Occupied] East Jerusalem. I have no problem with that," Barkat said.
Between 2004 and 2008, between 100 and 130 buildings per year were demolished in Jerusalem, the mayor's office said.About two-thirds of them were in East Jerusalem and one-third in Jewish neighborhoods in West Jerusalem, the mayor's office said.
So far this year, the mayor's office said 35 homes have been demolished, 20 of them in East Jerusalem and the rest in West Jerusalem. All of this year's building permit requests from East Jerusalem - 26 - were granted, his office said.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and has illegally occupied the area ever since. The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state.
Barkat said his goal was to maintain a "Jewish majority" in the city by creating more jobs and housing, including in an area of occupied land that Israel sees as a critical link between Occupied Jerusalem and the sprawling illegal Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.
The Obama administration, like its predecessor, opposes construction in the area that Israel calls E1, as well as in other settlements in the occupied West Bank.Palestinians say building in E1 in particular would deny them a viable state by cutting the West Bank in two.
Figures vary but roughly 750,000 people live in what Israel defines as Jerusalem. About one in three is an Arab, mostly Muslims with some Christians, and half a million are Jews.
Barkat said some 6,000 Jews were leaving per year due to a the high price of housing. In contrast, he said, the city's Arab population was growing, creating what he called an "imbalance."
The mayor said his policies were meant to ensure "the Jewish population stays to keep the ratio between Jews and Arabs in order to make sure that [occupied] Jerusalem has a Jewish majority as the Jewish capital of the world."
But he added: "I do not have a policy of demolitions as part of maintaining any kind of balance."
Front Page Features