WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has ordered the occupying regime’s troops to continue the demolition of “illegally built” Palestinian homes in Occupied East Al-Quds during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israeli public broadcaster, KAN, reported Monday.
Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, is set to start later this month, Anadolu News Agency reports.
The occupying regime did not carry out home demolitions during Ramadan in the past years to avoid tension with the Palestinians.
While Palestinians see the occupying regime’s demolition policy as an attempt to drive them out of East Al-Quds and strengthen the occupation of the city, Israeli authorities consider these houses illegally built, without a permit.
Meanwhile, Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, said the regime’s police warned Ben-Gvir that the fasting month of Ramadan could be extremely volatile as they are already stretched to the limit amid tension across the occupied West Bank.
Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined settlers in storming the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Al-Quds.
In November 2022, Zionist president Isaac Herzog warned in a leaked audio that “the whole world is worried” about Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.
The Zionist regime occupied East Al-Quds during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Al-Quds as Occupied Territories and considers all settlement-building activity there illegal.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah told vesting U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin a surge in West Bank violence threatened regional stability.
Austin arrived in Jordan earlier at the start of a Middle East tour that will also take him to the Israeli-occupied territories and Egypt, U.S. officials said.
King Abdullah, whose country hosted the first Zionist-Palestinian meeting in Aqaba last week with the participation of top US and Egyptian officials, said efforts must be accelerated to bring about a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal based on a two-state solution.
“There is a need for calm and to reduce escalation in Palestinian territories and stop any unilateral steps that undermined stability and abort chances of attaining peace,” a palace statement said after the talks between the king and Austin.