At the bottom of a steep and densely populated valley just below Jerusalem's old city walls, the earth has been shaken in recent weeks by jackhammers and bulldozers. These have been the sounds of Jerusalem for decades as the Israeli state has relentlessly sought to stamp a uniformly Jewish identity on to the occupied east of the city, while erasing its Palestinian character. Typically it is workers for the state and municipality at the wheel of the bulldozers, but in the al-Bustan neighbourhood, in the shadow of the 11th-century al-Aqsa mosque, the clamour is from a more recent development. It is the sound of Palestinians demolishing their own family homes.
Incursion follows Israeli defence minister's order for military to act forcefully' against the Palestinian town. Israeli forces have carried out mass arrests and forced dozens of families from their homes in the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank, on the second day of a sweeping military operation ordered by Israel's defence minister. Israeli forces sealed off entrances to Qabatiya while rounding up and interrogating dozens of residents on Saturday, local sources told Al Jazeera.
