U.S. envoy hand at Jerusalem underground settler project
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- For years, Palestinians in the crowded East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan have complained that the walls of their homes were settling and cracking, disturbed by an underground “archaeological” dig led by a right-wing Jewish settler group.
On Sunday, when that new tunnel was officially unveiled, not with a ribbon-cutting but with the ceremonial smashing of a brick wall, it was President Trump’s ambassador to ‘Israel’, David M. Friedman, who swung the first sledgehammer.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended the event along with three other visiting American ambassadors as well as President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The presence of the American officials sparked new accusations that the U.S. is helping Israel Judaize east Jerusalem. The Palestinians severed ties with the White House after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Muslims’s and Christians’ most holy sites, in the 1967 and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized.
Israeli groups execute digging works around an under the Al Aqsa mosque claiming that it is archaeological projects. However, Palestinians see their results in the form of cracked walls, which sometimes make houses very dangerous and uninhabitable.
Palestinians also fear that such projects put the Al Aqsa mosque in danger, as they mostly reach the foundations of the holy mosque.
