JERUSALEM: A lawyer said Wednesday a Jerusalem court ruling that dozens of home demolitions in a flashpoint Palestinian neighborhood should be frozen for six months was “progress,” but not “victory.”
Israel had ordered the demolition of around 100 homes in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood on the edge of the Old City in east Jerusalem, claiming they were built illegally on public land.
Monday’s court order froze most of those demolition orders until February 2022, while also allowing 16 homes to be razed immediately.
“I have reached the conclusion that there is space to grant a specific extension,” wrote Judge Sigal Albo of the Jerusalem Court for Local Affairs in the decision.
Lawyer Ziad Kawar, representing residents in the Al-Bustan area of Silwan, told AFP the ruling was “progress” but “not a victory.” He said he would appeal to foreign diplomats to put pressure on Israel over home demolitions.
Kawar said his clients were applying for retroactive permission for their homes, which he said they built on their own private property without permission.
“It is not possible to get permits there,” Kawar said. Palestinians say the city rejects nearly all of their building permit applications.
Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967, and later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.
Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
In the 1980s, settlers began moving into Silwan, which sits on land where — according to Jewish tradition — King David established his capital some 3,000 years ago, making the area hallowed ground in Jewish history.
Israelis have said they hope to build a park devoted to the biblical King David in Al-Bustan.
Israeli settlers regard Jerusalem, east and west, as the eternal capital of the Jewish people and a place that Jews themselves have repeatedly been forced to flee through the centuries.
Today several hundred settlers live in Silwan under heavy security, among about 50,000 Palestinians.
This week’s court decision came after Israel’s supreme court delayed ruling on the eviction of four families in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The fate of the families in Sheikh Jarrah sparked tensions in May that spiralled into deadly armed conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Jerusalem court freezes razing of some Palestinian homes
https://arab.news/n8rn6
Jerusalem court freezes razing of some Palestinian homes
- Israel had ordered the demolition of around 100 homes in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood on the edge of the Old City in east Jerusalem
- Monday’s court order froze most of those demolition orders until February 2022, while also allowing 16 homes to be razed immediately
US makes plans to reopen embassy in Syria after 14 years
- The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year
- Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to proceed with planning for a potential re-opening of the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was shuttered in 2012 during the country’s civil war.
A notice to congressional committees earlier this month, which was obtained by The Associated Press, informed lawmakers of the State Department’s “intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume embassy operations in Syria.”
The Feb. 10 notification said that spending on the plans would begin in 15 days, or next week, although there was no timeline offered for when they would be complete or when US personnel might return to Damascus on a full-time basis.
The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year, shortly after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, and it has been a priority for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack.
Barrack has pushed for a deep rapprochement with Syria and its new leadership under former rebel Ahmad Al-Sharaa and has successfully advocated for the lifting of US sanctions and a reintegration of Syria into the regional and international communities.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president. “He’s a rough guy. He’s not a choir boy. A choir boy couldn’t do it,” Trump said. “But Syria’s coming together.”
Last May, Barrack visited Damascus and raised the US flag at the embassy compound, although the embassy was not yet re-opened.
The same day the congressional notification was sent, Barrack lauded Syria’s decision to participate in the coalition that is combating the Daesh militant group, even as the US military has withdrawn from a small, but important, base in the southeast and there remain significant issues between the government and the Kurdish minority.
“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-Daesh Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Barrack said.
The embassy re-opening plans are classified and the State Department declined to comment on details beyond confirming that the congressional notification was sent.
However, the department has taken a similar “phased” approach in its plans to re-open the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the US military operation that ousted former President Nicolás Maduro in January, with the deployment of temporary staffers who would live in and work out of interim facilities.
