Egypt: Israel taking 'racist steps' to rid Jerusalem of Arabs

[Scurrilous]

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"The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the international community to protect Jerusalem from the "racist steps" being taken by Israel to change the demographics of the city.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman appealed to the United Nations Security Council with the complaint that Israel has been trying to change the demographic reality in all Palestinian territory, particularly in Jerusalem.

The Egyptian complaint came just before United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to visit Cairo, culminating days of meetings across North Africa and in Israel.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also said on Tuesday that Cairo wants assurances that any Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations would ensure a Palestinian state and not be used to "waste time".

Jordan's King Abdullah II, meanwhile, conferred Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, urging the international community to pressure Israel to stop its "unilateral actions" in East Jerusalem, a royal court statement said.

"The monarch underlined the importance of the European Union's role, particularly that of Britain, in efforts aimed at ensuring the setting up of an independent Palestinian state, which is a prerequisite for Middle East peace," it said.

King Abdullah warned against "the dangers inherent in the Israeli unilateral actions, especially the construction of settlements and other measures that threaten the identity of Jerusalem and holy places there, and called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt such steps," added the statement."

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Settlers force Palestinians out of East Jerusalem home

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"Rioting settlers forced a Palestinian family from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah out of their home on Tuesday, after the district court denied the residents' appeal to remain on the premises.

Shortly after the verdict was passed dozens of settlers stormed into the house with hired security guards, and demanded that the family vacate immediately.

A violent riot erupted between the settlers and the neighborhood's Palestinian residents, and police were called to disbar the protesters.

A legal battle has raged for some 30 years over the ownership of 28 houses in this neighborhood.

The particular house, built 10 years ago by the al-Kurd family, was unoccupied and locked for eight years by court order pending settlement of a land-ownership dispute.

Police kept members of the family back as a dozen Israeli men removed furniture.

"They can go to Syria, Iraq, Jordan. We are six million and they are billions," said Yehya Gureish, an Arabic-speaking Yemen-born Jew who said his family owned the land and had Ottoman Empire documentation to prove it.

"This land is Israel. We are in Israel. God gave this land to the Jews. The Torah tells us so. You want war? Declare war on God, not on us," he said."

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