Israeli Forces Demolish Islamic Building

by Mohammed Mar’i

RAMALLAH, West Bank, 27 April 2007 — Israeli bulldozers have started demolishing parts of the Supreme Islamic Council building near Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The Al-Aqsa Foundation has reported that the Israelis began bulldozing parts of the southern and western facade and several internal rooms of the building, located dozens of meters from the Al-Buraq wall near Jaffa Gate in the Old City of East Jerusalem.

Adjacent to the building the Israelis are constructing apartments in the “modern Western style, with architectural features in disharmony with the Arab-Islamic architecture,” the foundation said.

During its monitoring of the process, the foundation found that in addition to external damage, most of the inside the Supreme Islamic Council building had been destroyed, with interior walls knocked down.

With regard to Islamic heritage in the Old City, the Al-Aqsa Foundation says, “They fall under the ferocious war perpetrated by the Israeli institutions in the frantic pursuit to Judaize Jerusalem and obliterate all Arab and Islamic features, ignoring history and the Arab and Islamic civilization.”

The Israelis seized the Palestinian building under its own “absentee (Palestinian refugees) property” law since 59 years. As part of the project to engulf the western area of Jerusalem’s Old City overlooking Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israelis sold the building to an American Jew to convert it into luxury apartments.

Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities have demolished the house of Nawaf Mohammad Al-Shalaldeh, in Al-Tur, east of the old city of Jerusalem, claiming it lacks needed license. Shalaldeh, father of 7 children, said that his house was newly constructed and that his family members only moved their belongings into the house in recent days.

Meanwhile, Palestinian armed factions yesterday renewed their commitment to a Gaza Strip truce but said rocket salvoes from the territory could resume if Israel did not halt military operations in the occupied West Bank.

The message was delivered to Israel by an Egyptian mediator who has been trying to prevent major confrontation after Hamas’ armed wing fired rockets and declared the Gaza truce dead on Tuesday, Palestinian sources familiar with the talks said.

Egyptian Maj. Gen. Burhan Hammad “informed the Israelis of the new commitment by the factions and at same time stressed that factions demanded the calm be reciprocal and simultaneous, covering Gaza and the West Bank,” one of the sources said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to the truce in November. Rocket fire from other groups such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees has continued sporadically. Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction formed a ruling coalition with Hamas last month, called Tuesday’s rockets “an exceptional event that will not last” and urged restraint by Israel.

Hamas’ Ezzeddine Al-Qassam Brigades said its barrage was a response to the killing of nine Palestinians in Israeli military operations against militants, mostly in the West Bank. After security consultations on Wednesday, Olmert decided against launching a ground offensive in Gaza, Israeli political sources said. But in a statement, his office said Israel would not hesitate to attack rocket-firing squads.

Anticipating Israeli military action, Hamas gunmen took up positions overnight near Gaza’s border with Israel, covering themselves with tree branches as camouflage.

“The Zionist enemy should understand that any thought of raiding the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and hundreds of rockets will be launched against (the southern Israeli towns) of Sderot and Ashkelon and beyond,” said Qassam brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida.