Two Palestinian families from Jerusalem received demolition notes on Tuesday from the Israeli High Court of Justice. The note that was submitted to the al-Qastero and al-Hashim families ordered them to leave their homes that are located in the old city of Jerusalem within 14 days. The court order was based on a petition submitted by Yishva Hiyim Oaleem, an Israeli settler's organization, on claims that the two families' homes have been owned by the organization prior to 1984. The families informed the Palestinian Prime Minister Advisor for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem abed al-Qader, who assigned a lawyer to obtain an urgent court ruling against the evacuation order. The families said that they lived in their homes before 1976. Abed al-Qader reported that these demolition notices are considered a new escalation against the civilians of the Jerusalem old city. The Israeli Authorities approved last week the construction of 1300 settler-only homes in the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo, near Beit Hanina Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. The new constructions were approved by the The Regional Committee for Construction and Planning. The new decision raises the number of settler homes approved for construction since the Annapolis Summit in November 2007 to 7974. It is worth mentioning that there are nearly 2000 settler homes in Ramat Shlomo and this new construction plan will expand the settlement by more than 55%. The new plan is another Israeli violation of the Road Map Peace Plan and the understandings of the Annapolis Summit as Israel is creating new forced realities in East Jerusalem in order to block any withdrawal from the occupied city under a future peace deal. Peace groups in Israel said that Israel is significantly increasing the number of settlements in the occupied territories and that the Israeli government approved the construction of 16000 houses for the settlers between the years of 2002 and 2006. This number is added to the 7974 settler homes approved for construction since the Annapolis summit. In its July 9, 2004 ruling, the International Court of Justice stated that all settlements in the occupied territories are illegal and obstruct peace.
