Israeli authorities demolished 10 homes belonging to
Palestinian citizens of Israel in the city of Qalansawe in central Israel on
Tuesday morning, prompting a defeated mayor to resign after Israeli authorities
refused for decades to approve the city’s master plan.
Local sources told Ma’an the devastating demolition campaign
sparked clashes between Israeli police and residents.
Mayor Abd al-Basit Mansour visited the area along with
members of the municipal council and announced he would resign from his post,
as Israeli bulldozers razed the homes to ground.
Mansour told reporters that, "We have been waiting for
approval of a master plan for twenty years, but our request fell on deaf ears.”
“As head of the Qalansawe municipality, who doesn’t have the
power to change anything, I decided to send my resignation to the Ministry of
Interior.”
Dozens of locals crowded in the area in an attempt to
prevent bulldozers from demolishing the structures, but Israeli police officers
dispersed them.
One homeowner described the demolition as part of Israel’s
policy of "oppression, injustice, and displacement."
Qalansawe resident Ashraf Abu Ali criticized leaders of
Palestinian communities in Israel. "What have they done to prevent
demolitions in the Arab communities?" he asked, asserting that Palestinian
citizens of Israel would "remain under threat as long as master plans and
allocating land for construction are dealt with so recklessly."
Another owner of one of the demolished houses, Hassuna
Makhlouf, said he held Qalansawe’s mayor responsible, along with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He told Ma’an that Israeli police officers treated
homeowners “violently” during the demolition raid.
Resident of the town Abd al-Rahim Odeh said large numbers of
Israeli police officers and more than 20 bulldozers stormed Qalansawe "in
an unprecedented act of barbarism.”
Local sources said Israeli police detained a young man from
Qalansawe during clashes that broke out in the area.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld confirmed to
Ma'an that the demolitions took place “based on a court order,” amid heavy
police presence in and around the area. However, he said that no detentions or
clashes occurred, "as far as I know."
Commenting on the demolitions, Israeli Minister of Public
Security Gilad Erdan said that the "complex campaign reflects equal law enforcement
in Israel as it should be," according to Hebrew-language media reports.
Last month, Netanyahu reportedly held meetings, attended by
Erdan, in which the prime minister instructed officials to “work to issue
demolition orders for the illegal structures, located in Arab town in northern
and southern Israel, as well as in eastern Jerusalem.”
“There will be no double standards regarding construction,”
Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying. “There will be equal enforcement of
the law in Israel for both Jews and Arabs.”
Earlier in December, Netanyahu commented on the Supreme
Court-ordered demolition of the illegal Israeli outpost of Amona in the
occupied West Bank by assuring the soon-to-be displaced settlers that he would
commit to “enforcing laws” on “illegal construction” in Israel, referring
primarily to Palestinian communities that are often forced to build without
Israeli-issued building permits.
The Jerusalem municipality also vowed to demolish scores of
Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem as a result of the ruling to
dismantle Amona.
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