AL-QUSD (Dispatches) –
Zionist regime officials are preparing to put forward controversial plans next month to expand an illegal park onto church-owned lands and Christian sites in occupied East Al-Quds, according to a newspaper.
The plan, which is set to come before the local planning and construction committee of the regime’s municipality of Al-Quds for preliminary approval on 2 March, would see the borders of the Al-Quds Walls Park extended to include a large section of the Mount of Olives along with additional parts of the Kidron and Ben Hinnom Valleys.
The Times of Israel newspaper said leading church officials and rights groups had characterized the plan as a power grab and a threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
Clashes erupted on Sunday between Palestinians and Zionist settlers in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Al-Quds, according to local residents.
The violence broke out after Zionist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir relocated his makeshift office to another area in the neighborhood, the residents said.
According to witnesses, Zionist troops assaulted a number of Palestinian residents, who protested the lawmaker’s office move.
Ben-Gvir said he had to sit near a police checkpoint in the area after he and his supporters were banned by police from sitting inside his makeshift office.
Ben-Gvir of is accused of creating provocations and seeking political gains, taking advantage of his immunity.
Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have complained of repeated attacks by Zionist settlers, who reside next to them in homes taken from Palestinians over past years.
Last year, tensions ran high in the neighborhood after a court ordered the eviction of several Palestinian families in favor of Zionist settlers.
The United Nations has denounced Zionist expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, slamming the move as a “violation of international law”.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, made the remarks at a weekly news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Sunday, after a UN delegation visited the occupied Palestinian territories, where they met a Palestinian family facing imminent eviction in Sheikh Jarrah.
“Representatives of the United Nations, which are responsible for humanitarian measures, visited the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.” Dujarric said, as he confirmed the news of the visit.
He added that a number of UN and its affiliated agencies’ representatives met with a Palestinian family, who have been living in their home for 70 years in Sheikh Jarrah, and are now facing the risk of displacement.
The Palestinian family includes six children and an elderly woman and is one of 218 Palestinian families, comprising 970 individuals, who live in the neighborhoods of East Al-Quds, including Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
Dujarric said the UN has repeatedly called for an end to the forced eviction and demolition of homes in the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds.
Since the Zionist regime seized East Al-Quds in a 1967 war, settler organizations have claimed ownership of land in Sheikh Jarrah and filed multiple lawsuits to evict Palestinians from the area.
Much of the international community considers the settlement structures illegal under international law due to their construction on occupied territory.