Wadi Hummus: J Street head says Israel 'weaponizing' building permits
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the progressive J Street, issued a statement against Israel's forced evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes.
By OMRI NAHMIASOne of the 18 Wadi Hummus buildings slated for demolition(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
WASHINGTON - Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the progressive J Street, issued a statement saying that "the Netanyahu government's forced evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes undercuts the prospects for a two-state solution and is not compatible with Israel's obligations under international law."Ben-Ami made his statements Monday, hours after Israeli security forces entered Wadi Hummus in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Bahir to demolish 12 homes. The High Court of Justice had ruled that the structures could be demolished because they “constitute a security danger to the area of the security fence,” the Civil Administration said. “Enforcement procedures were carried out in accordance with authority and procedures and subject to operational considerations.”"These demolitions are yet another example of how the far-right has weaponized building permits in East Jerusalem and is seeking to advance an agenda of ‘creeping annexation’ in the West Bank which aims to restrict and demolish Palestinian communities and undermine the terms of any future peace agreement," Ben-Ami said. "This is an agenda that weakens Israel’s important security relationship with the Palestinian Authority and, by laying the groundwork for annexation of the West Bank, jeopardizes Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people."That these demolitions occurred across the Green Line and in Area A of the West Bank, which is ostensibly administered by the Palestinian Authority, makes this all the more concerning," he concluded.
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