Demolitions continue in East Jerusalem despite housing crisis

JERUSALEM (IRIN) -- The threatened demolition of apartment blocks in East Jerusalem is adding new pressure to the city's housing crisis, with hundreds facing the prospect of losing their homes and Palestinian residents saying they face discrimination in city planning.

Since the start of construction of the separation barrier a decade ago, poorer Palestinian East Jerusalemites have often chosen to move to the West Bank side of the wall.

In late 2013, Israeli authorities issued court orders announcing that a number of buildings in Ras Shehada and Ras Khamis -- Palestinian neighborhoods inside Jerusalem's municipal boundary but cut off by the separation barrier -- are slated for demolition because they were built without permits.

"With everything that's going on here, I'm trying to sell the house," said Shadi, 26, who owns an apartment in Ras Khamis threatened with demolition. "If someone comes now with, say, 150,000 NIS ($43,000) cash, I'm out of here."

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