Arab League slams Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes as ‘ethnic cleansing’

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the Arab League have condemned the Israeli practice of demolition Palestinian-owned homes and structures as “ethnic cleansing.”

On Wednesday, an Israeli mechanical digger, under the tight protection of Israeli soldiers, tore down the property of Palestinian Mahmoud Salhiyeh in the occupied East al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, displacing his entire family of over a dozen, mainly children.

Local sources said a large number of police forces stormed the house and arrested 20 activists and six individuals from the 18-member Salhiyeh family, including Mahmoud. They assaulted the other members of the family, including his nine-year-old daughter and her aunt.

The family said that the Israeli forces had cut off electricity from the house as they raided it, and started firing tear gas to block everyone’s vision.

“This crime is part of (Israeli) policies of persecution, racism and ethnic cleansing against indigenous landowners in favor of settlers,” said Shtayyeh in a statement later in the day, calling on the United Nations to intervene to put a stop to such policies, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.

The Palestinian foreign ministry also, in a separate statement, denounced the demolition, lambasting it as “ethnic cleansing” with the aim of forcing the Palestinian residents of the city to leave it in order to create a Jewish majority.

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