OCHA report: Israel took third of E. Jerusalem after occupation

[ 10/05/2011 - 06:11 PM ]

NEW YORK, (PIC)-- A report by the UN Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reveals that Israel confiscated a third of East Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967.

Mr. Ray Dolphin has reviewed the report titled ”East Jerusalem, major humanitarian problems” at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.

Dr. Dolphin said it was the first UN report which combines both political and humanitarian implications of Israeli restrictive measures for 270,000 Palestinian residents and the increasing isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

It says 35 percent of East Jerusalem has been used for the interest of Israeli settlement activity, denouncing that only 13 percent of that land has been reserved for Palestinians. This is why Palestinians have been ”building illegally” which results in their homes being demolished by the Israeli occupation.

The report adds that Israel is responsible for the demolition of more than 2,000 homes over the last 44 years and helped erect more than a thousand homes for Jewish settlers in the area.

The problem with the settlements, the report highlights, is that they are a threat to the land and resources that should be reserved for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

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