The Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem demolished one of the oldest Muslim graveyards in the occupied holy city on Sunday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The head of the Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries in Jerusalem, Mustafa Abu Zahra, told WAFA that the Jerusalem Municipality’s teams, accompanied by a bulldozer, destroyed a grave from the Al Yousifieh Cemetery, and scattered the bones.
lsreal is planning to build a park in one of the oldest muslim graveyards in occupied jerusalem. they’ve been destroying some graves even after finding bones and realising it’s a graveyard and attacked protesters for being upset. watch this vid to understand more (via iamsbeih) pic.twitter.com/PlkVddmMtI
— min⁷🕊 (@ughseokk) October 12, 2021
He added that among the graves demolished were those of Muslims who were martyred in the conflicts between 1948 and 1967, and that Israel will face legal action in response to the municipality’s actions.
According to WAFA, Palestinians who were present in the area blocked the bulldozer from destroying the graves further and forced it out of the area.
Abu Zahra called on all Jerusalemites to “unite in order to protect Jerusalem’s landmarks from the Israeli occupation’s oppression”.
Palestinians clash with Jerusalem Police after human remains unearthed: Several human bones were found during construction work near a large Muslim graveyard, after which many Palestinian residents rushed to the area to protest https://t.co/z2T3vhNOWc Haaretz pic.twitter.com/epHCpaUJQZ
— Jewish Community (@JComm_NewsFeeds) October 10, 2021
The cemetery, located next to the wall surrounding the Old City, is one of the oldest Muslim graveyards in occupied Jerusalem and is about 4,000 square metres.
The demolition is part of the Israeli occupation authorities’ plan to build a “Biblical garden path” inside the cemetery which contains the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as many ancient and modern graves.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
