Friday 25 March 2011

OCHA report: Jerusalem housing inadequate for Palestinians

[ 24/03/2011 - 05:24 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released Wednesday the first UN report to offer a ”comprehensive review of both humanitarian consequences of Israeli policies for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, and the increasing isolation of East Jerusalem from the remainder of the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory said at a press conference in Jerusalem that the report highlights the serious inadequacy of housing and infrastructure available to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and says that many Palestinians are threatened with home demolitions and forced eviction.

The local construction plan for Jerusalem is designed to maintain a majority population of Jews to Palestinians in the city, Gaylard pointed out.

He added that the government continues to establish settlements within city limits, although the UN has forbidden the transfer of civilians to occupied land.

He went on to say that settlement organizations have been targeting the land to create an ”inner belt” of settlements in Palestinian areas of the city's ”holy basin” and highlighted that excavations in the area increase the general area of land seized by settlers.

The report also discusses how the apartheid barrier has affected the education, health, religious and social aspects of Palestinian life.

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