Occupied East Jerusalem, January 5 (RHC)-- Israeli authorities have demolished a medical center and several structures in occupied al-Quds, sources say.  The Palestinian Information Center cited local sources as saying that Israeli vehicles, accompanied by police forces, stormed the village of Jabel al-Mukaber, southeast of al-Quds City, and destroyed Abdullah al-Sheikh medical center on Tuesday morning.

The Israeli vehicles also partially destroyed a two-story building in Beit Hanina, north of al-Quds City.  According to the report, the Israeli bulldozers destroyed the upper floor of the building on Tuesday morning, but stopped from demolishing the entire structure after a court ruling ordered a halt to the destruction.  However, the house was left unsuitable for habitation.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli forces and vehicles stormed the village of al-Zaeem Village, east al-Quds City, and razed the lands there.  Israeli forces also razed agricultural lands and destroyed farmers’ rooms in the village of Isawiya, north of al-Quds.

Israel regularly flattens Palestinian homes and structures in al-Quds on the pretext that they lack building permits, expropriating more Palestinian lands to expand its illegal settlements.

This is while the international community considers Israeli settlement construction illegal under international law and an obstacle to the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Nearly 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.  The UN Security Council has in several resolutions condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian lands.