LONDON: A total of 3,917 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israeli authorities in occupied East Jerusalem from June 1967 to October 2026, according to Jordan’s Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs.
The committee’s secretary-general, Abdullah Kanaan, said on Sunday that home demolition is an Israeli systematic practice designed to alter the demographic and geographical landscape of the Holy City, displacing its indigenous Arab population, as reported by the Jordan News Agency.
He added that Israel is committing a grave violation of basic human rights by forcing Palestinian homeowners to self-demolish their residences to avoid facing prohibitive administrative fines from the authorities.
He warned that dozens of families in Silwan, a neighborhood south of the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, remain under imminent threat of home evictions. He called for international action to hold Israeli authorities accountable, halt forced evictions, protect Jerusalemites, and enforce international resolutions to achieve a just and lasting peace.
“Jerusalem is not merely a real estate dispute or an architectural file; it is a core national, historical, and civilizational issue bound to the Palestinian people’s right to their land, sanctities, and national identity,” Kanaan said.
He affirmed Jordan’s role in preserving the legal status quo of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites and protecting against encroachments that threaten the city’s Arab and historical identity.