
DATE: Thursday, September 18, 1997          TAG: 9709180525

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: FOCUS

SOURCE: BY REBECCA TROUNSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES 

DATELINE: JERUSALEM                         LENGTH:   49 lines

FOCUS: MIDEAST LAND BATTLES AT THE ROOT OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IS LAND. THE VICTIMS ARE USUALLY PEOPLE LIKE TALAL ARRAR AND HIS FAMILY, WHO MANAGED TO STAY IN THEIR NEW HOME ONLY FIVE DAYS BEFORE IT WAS RIPPED APART BY ISRAELI BULLDOZERS.

[This story is not available electronically. For complete text, please see microfilm.] ILLUSTRATION: Photo

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Ayda Arrar holds her baby boy, Ayman, as her daughters - from left,

Wala, A-Beh and Nur - sit inside their tent in the Shuafat refugee

camp in East Jerusalem Monday. The family was turned out of its

house in Jerusalem after five days there. In six weeks, Israel has

destroyed about 50 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East

Jerusalem.

Graphic

TUG OF WAR IN JERUSALEM

The status of Jerusalem is one of the major unresolved issues in

the Mideast conflict. Before peace negotiators consider its fate,

both sides are trying to boost their populations in the disputed

city.

The background: Israel captured traditionally Arab East Jerusalem

from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War. Israel has sought to

consolidate its hold on the area by expropriating Arab-owned land,

confiscating identification documents, restricting the ability of

Palestinians to obtain building permits and demolishing structures

built without permits.

What's happening now: In recent months, with the peace process

near collapse, Israel slowed its practice of demolishing Palestinian

homes. But in the past six weeks, Israel has destroyed about 50

Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The

stepped-up campaign stems from Israeli anger and frustration in the

aftermath of recent suicide bombings by militant Palestinian groups.

Map

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu

by CNB