By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM

Israeli bulldozers on Wednesday demolished two Palestinian-owned apartments in East Jerusalem’s Al-Issawiya village on the pretext that they had been built without permits, witnesses said.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that both apartments, which are located next to each other, are owned by Nader Jamil Nasser, a Palestinian resident of the village.

Israeli police have since cordoned off the area in which the demolitions were carried out, witnesses said.

In recent years, Israel has stepped up illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in tandem with the ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities prohibit Palestinians from carrying out any construction activities in Jerusalem without official permits.

The city’s Palestinian residents say they face numerous bureaucratic obstacles when trying to obtain construction permits from the Israeli authorities.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement building there to be illegal.