Islamic civilization bulldozed for Israeli takeover of Jerusalem

(Jerusalem) Maisa Abu Ghazaleh

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

Israeli bulldozers demolished parts of the Supreme Islamic Council near Al Aqsa Mosque beginning on Sunday. Located dozens of meters from the western wall near Jaffa Gate in East Jerusalem's Old City, the building is slowly being destroyed.

The Al Aqsa Foundation has reported that the Israelis began bulldozing parts of the southern and western facade and several internal rooms.

Adjacent to the building the Israelis are constructing apartments in the “modern western style, with architectural features in discord with the Arab-Islamic architecture.”

As part of continuing efforts to overtake Jerusalem, the Israelis are building luxury apartments in and around the ancient Islamic building. The apartments are being sold for millions.

During its monitoring of the process, the Al Aqsa Institution found that in addition to external damage, most of the inside the Supreme Islamic Council building had been destroyed, with interior walls knocked down.

Of the Islamic heritage in the Old City, the Al Aqsa Foundation wrote, “They fall under the ferocious war perpetrated by the Israeli institutions in the frantic pursuit to Judaize Jerusalem and obliterate all Arab and Islamic features, ignoring history and the Arab and Islamic civilization.”

The Israelis seized the Palestinian building under its own “absentee property” law after seeking to overtake it for years. As part of the project to engulf the western area of Jerusalem's Old City overlooking Al Aqsa Mosque, the Israelis sold the building to an American Jew to convert it into luxury apartments.