Palestinian Arab activist Fakhri Abu Diab claims Israel is working to establish the ‘Jewish presence’ in eastern Jerusalem at the expense of Arabs.
Palestinian Arab activist Fakhri Abu Diab, a resident of eastern Jerusalem, of a “dangerous escalation” in the Israeli government’s policy in Jerusalem, which he claims is intended to establish the Jewish presence in the city at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs.
Speaking to the Shihab News Agency, Abu Diab said that the current Israeli government, which adopts a right-wing approach, “is implementing a systematic plan to completely Judaize Jerusalem through demographic change in favor of the settlers, and the fragmentation of Palestinian neighborhoods.”
Abu Diab claimed that “Israel is urging the Arab residents of Jerusalem to leave the city or remain in areas around which Jewish neighborhoods have been established, in order to establish facts on the ground.”
“Israel is doing everything in its power to establish its sovereignty in Jerusalem, taking advantage of the international community’s preoccupation with other issues and the weakness of the Arab and Islamic nations. Jerusalem is moving toward complete Judaization and the elimination of the Arab presence in it, against the backdrop of a lack of international deterrence and the continuation of settlement plans,” he stated.
Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel, was the capital of the ancient Jewish kingdoms in the land of Israel and the site of the two Holy Temples. It is the holiest city in Jerusalem.
Jews lived in what is now called “eastern Jerusalem” until the 1948 War of Independence, when the Jewish residents were expelled by Jordan, which conquered much of the holy city. Jewish residents began to return to eastern Jerusalem, including their holy sites such as the Western Wall, after that section of the city was liberated in the Six Day War in 1967,
