Large Jewish/Arab Demo - Against Home Demolitions in Silwan

Somewhere between 500-1000 Jews and Arabs marched in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, to protest the planned demolition of 22 Palestinian homes in order to build an archeological park and other tourism facilities.

The only slogan I can clearly make out is "Fascism shall not pass", but there are others in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

The signs read "Stop Ethnic Cleansing", "East Jerusalem Discrimination = Racism", "Settlements in East Jerusalem are a Barrier to a Solution", "Thou Shalt Not Steal - Free Sheikh Jarah", "Stop the Settlements In East Jerusalem", "Stop the Occupation", and "Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies."

You can read more about the particular issues in Silwan here and here. (Suffice it to say it is another instance of evicting Arabs to the benefit of Jews.) Silwan is only one of a number of flash points in East Jerusalem where Arabs are being moved out by the Israeli government and/or the Jerusalem municipality.

Nor are these current flash points likely to be the last. Today's Haaretz reports on a new Jerusalem master plan that calls for massive expansion of Jewish neighborhoods across the eastern part of the city - particularly near the "holy basin" - while restricting building for Palestinians to the extreme north and south of the city, and to only half the number of units deemed necessary to account for the natural population growth of the city's current Palestinian residents.