(6 Mar 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 6 March 2023
1. Various of heavy machinery demolishing houses
2. Israeli police in riot gear
3. Wide of onlookers
4. Various of machinery at work
5. Bulldozer driving away
6. Arafat Totah, owner of one of the destroyed houses, sitting on rubble

STORYLINE:
Israeli authorities deployed police in riot gear to guard workers as they demolished three houses in Jerusalem's Wadi al-Joz neighbourhood on Monday.

The demolished structures belonged to the Totah family, which they said they went ahead with building decades ago despite seeking permission from Israeli authorities.

The permits never came, family members said at the site. Around 20 people lived in the demolished houses, they said.

Most Palestinian apartments in east Jerusalem are built without hard-to-get permits. A 2017 study by the U.N. described it as “virtually impossible” to secure them.

Little Palestinian property was registered before Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, a move not internationally recognised.

In January this year a Palestinian gunman killed seven people in east Jerusalem, the deadliest attack in the contested capital since 2008.

Israel’s new far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called not only for the sealing of the assailant’s family home, but also the immediate demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes built without permits in east Jerusalem, among other punitive steps for the deadly attacks.

Israel says home demolitions are meant to deter future attackers but critics say they amount to collective punishment against the families of assailants and only exacerbate tensions with Palestinians.

The government has vowed to expand settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Most of the world considers Israeli settlements a violation of international law and a roadblock to peace.

AP video shot by Moamer Awad

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