Occupation carries out extensive demolition operations in Al-Bustan neighborhood in Jerusalem to advance settlement plans

Israeli occupation forces and machinery stormed Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan town, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, this Monday morning. Bulldozers began carrying out extensive demolition and leveling operations targeting citizens' properties, a step that comes within the systematic forced displacement policy pursued by the occupation authorities against the steadfast residents of the neighborhood.

Official sources in Jerusalem Governorate reported that the demolition operations affected a two-story residential house belonging to citizen Fayez Awad, in addition to the demolition of a 'barracks' facility owned by the Ruwaidi family. The assaults also included the leveling of retaining walls and agricultural lands belonging to other citizens, amid a strict security cordon imposed by the occupation forces, preventing residents from accessing their properties or salvaging their contents.

Through this field escalation, the imposition of exorbitant fines, and repeated eviction notices, the occupation authorities seek to empty the area of its indigenous inhabitants. These measures aim to gain full control over Palestinian lands to implement Judaization settlement projects, most notably the 'King David Gardens' plan and tourist bus parking lots, based on biblical claims aimed at changing the city's identity.

Al-Bustan neighborhood is considered one of the most targeted areas in Silwan town, where hundreds of Jerusalemites who have lived there for decades face the threat of demolition and displacement. This attack comes in the context of the occupation's continuous attempts to change the geographical and demographic character in the immediate vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which deepens the suffering of Palestinian families facing the specter of displacement at any moment.

Occupation authorities escalate their policy of demolition and leveling with the aim of expelling Palestinian residents and seizing their lands to establish settlement projects.