JERUSALEM: Israel has demolished buildings in an area of annexed east Jerusalem located near some of the city’s most important holy sites, prompting concern from Palestinian residents, activists and foreign governments.

“They are trying to break us,” said Fakhri Abu Diab, a resident of Silwan neighbourhood where Israeli police forces on Wednesday demolished a cultural centre and a protest encampment, citing unauthorised construction.

They were located in Silwan’s Al-Bustan area, near Jerusalem’s Old City that is home to multiple religious sites, and where Israeli settler activity has intensified in recent years.

“It is from here that messages to our community and to the world emanated,” said Abu Diab, whose home, along with several others, was destroyed in another demolition last week.

He said the Israelis “wanted to cut off the head” of the anti-settlement movement in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations.

Anti-settlement group Ir Amim said that “this area has for years been under concerted state and settler pressure due to the historical assets within its bounds and its proximity to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and the Old City”, revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Israeli authorities have declared part of Silwan a “protected” zone where they plan to create a tourist park on the area of several Jewish religious sites.

The Jerusalem municipality has cited court decisions ordering the demolition of the Al-Bustan structures deemed in breach of zoning regulations.

But, according to Ir Amim, the demolitions aim to connect Israeli settlers in Palestinian neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem to the city’s Jewish-majority west.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024