"Illegally built" Arab homes in East Jerusalem will be razed "in the coming days," Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Wednesday.
Aharonovitch revealed the plan in response to an inquiry by a Likud legislator during a plenary session of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament.
The minister told legislators that implementation of the warrants had been delayed in recent months in light of the U.S. efforts to renew the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, while emphasizing that at present there is no directive forbidding police from implementing the warrants.
"Police are under no instructions to refrain from carrying out the demolitions. They (the demolitions) will be carried in the coming days," local daily The Jerusalem Post quoted Aharonovitch as saying.
"There were times when the political echelon thought the timing for implementing the orders was inappropriate, because of diplomatic processes. The orders were not cancelled, but were delayed," he added.
Aharonovitch, however, did say that it is possible police will ask to delay implementation of the warrants "due to circumstances in the field." "That is up to the police district chief to decide, " he added.
An official source in the Public Security Ministry declined to disclose the exact time frame for implementation of the razing orders "due to security concerns and police confidentiality." But he told Xinhua that "the minister meant within a couple of weeks if everything goes according to plans."
As to the number of homes due to be demolished, the official, who declined to be named, said "a few."
The minister's announcement was made as thousands of Israelis paraded through the streets of Jerusalem in celebration of Jerusalem Day.
Israel views the holy city as their "indivisible" capital and labels hundreds of Arab homes in East Jerusalem as "illegal" citing a lack of building permits. While the international community considers the eastern Jerusalem as occupied territory, and the Palestinians want to build their future state with East Jerusalem as the capital.
In response to an inquiry by an Arab legislator as to why Israel is not demolishing Beit Yonatan, a contested Jewish home in East Jerusalem, Aharonovitch clarified that the police do not activate the demolition orders, but only assist in their implementation.
Aharonovitch's announcement comes in a sensitive timing, as the United States announced the first round of Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks earlier this week and urged the two sides to avoid from taking actions that undermine mutual trust.
A Fatah official warned swiftly on Wednesday that Aharonovitch' s statements to demolish Arab-owned houses in East Jerusalem might ruin the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks.
"If Israel seriously plans to raze Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem, such a provocative action would undermine the indirect talks," said Hatem Abdel Qader, who is in charge of the Jerusalem file.
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