Jerusalem homes demolition approved

Nir Barkat's decision threatens to raise tensions. He floated the plan months ago, but agreed to a last-minute request from Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consult Palestinian residents.

Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes has previously brought a harsh international reaction.

Palestinians hope to build the capital of a future state in east Jerusalem and see any Israeli construction there as undercutting their claims to the land.

Although Israel claims it is simply enforcing the law by knocking down illegally-built structures, many of the unapproved homes have gone up without authorisation because Palestinians have difficulty obtaining building permits in east Jerusalem.

Mr Barkat says the plan will give a much-needed facelift to Jerusalem's decaying al-Bustan neighbourhood, which Israel calls Gan Hamelech, or the King's Garden.

The plan calls for shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community centre on the site where some say the biblical King David wrote his psalms. The 22 displaced families would be allowed to build homes elsewhere in the district,.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem immediately after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 war.

Israeli sovereignty there has not been recognised by the Palestinians or the international community, and the fate of the city is the most charged issue dividing the two sides. Nearly 200,000 Jews have moved to east Jerusalem since Israel captured it, living in an uneasy coexistence with 250,000 Palestinians.

Activists in Al-Bustan, who had sought to block the demolitions, said that the plan "comes in the general context of fast-track Judaisation" of east Jerusalem.