Israeli minister: Jewish home to be built, Palestinian homes to be destroyed in Jerusalem

A senior Israeli minister vowed Thursday to keep building Jewish settlements and demolishing unauthorized Palestinian homes in occupied east Jerusalem. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party conveyed that Israel would never freeze construction in east Jerusalem.

"We will build in every part of Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people's homeland for eternity, and I made this clear to our American friends and colleagues as well," Yishai, whose ministry approves Jerusalem construction, told a weekly newspaper published by his party.

According to him, he will convene a municipal planning committee soon to advance new projects.

On Wednesday, Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said demolitions of "unauthorized" Palestinian homes would resume within days. "If there was a postponement, it's no longer in effect," he told parliament, according to the AP.