The Israeli government, with fanatical support from radical Zionist nationalists, is so obsessed with proving its connection to Jerusalem that it has recently resorted to an ugly and unique act. Israeli bulldozers are plowing various plots of land around the walls of Jerusalem to create phony cemeteries filled with fake graves.
Many of these cemeteries border the Palestinian town of Silwan and, when completed, they will block access for Jerusalemites to the old city and other neighborhoods.
The idea of creating fake graves appears to have come about because of an Israeli law that bans the destruction of cemeteries. So, by placing Jewish “graves” in strategic locations in Jerusalem, radical Israeli zealots aim to create the appearance of a Jewish city even in locations that have been predominantly built and inhabited by Palestinians.
Such Judaization efforts in Jerusalem are not new. They began shortly after Israel occupied the eastern sector of the city during the June 1967 war. Within weeks, Israeli authorities illegally expanded what they considered a unified Jerusalem and annexed all of the newly occupied parts of the city, including areas that extended as far as Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem in the south.
This Judaization effort also included the demolition of an entire Palestinian neighborhood, the Moghrabi Quarter, and the expulsion of its population, literally overnight. In some cases homes were demolished on top of their residents.
Jewish settlement...
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