An old man was hospitalized for two weeks after being attacked by setters in Beit Safafa as the occupation continues its attempts to ethnically cleanse the Jerusalem district.
***image2***In their almost daily attacks, the settlers also injured a 78 year old woman when they broke into her house, threw empty bottles at her and beat her with sticks. Children have also been attacked.
In a separate incident the Israeli army sent an order to a family demanding they leave their house within 72 hours after a Zionist settler claimed he owned the house. Ali Salah has lived in the house with some 55 other people since 1966. The settler falsely claimed to have bought the land and the house from someone in the village. Ali Salah and his family have been persecuted since 1992 by the Occupation who demanded that they pay more tax to the occupation as the house overlooks Jerusalem. The occupation claim that this means the family should pay Jerusalem taxes.
Beit Safafa continues to be subjected to random raids by occupation soldiers. The last one, a few days ago, happened at 11:30 at night when around 500 soldiers and boarder police kicked women and children out of their houses and confiscated sheep from the villagers.
The harassment of the villagers by both the settlers and the Occupation troops is a tactic to ethnically cleanse the area, and wider Jerusalem, of the Palestinian people who have lived there for many centuries, and move more settlers in. The Israeli government continues to confiscate and demolish Palestinian homes in Jerusalem. They refuse to grant planning permission for new houses and do not allow the renovation of existing properties. At the same time they are building more houses and moving more settlers into the area.