Occupied Jerusalem, May 17 (QNA) - The Israeli occupation authorities' ratification of a plan to seize land properties in Bab Al-Silsila neighborhood adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem portends the dispossession of Palestinians, the Jerusalem Governorate warned in a statement Sunday.

The statement further noted that this move is a menacing colonial escalation that intends to displace Jerusalemites and shore up colonial control over the Al-Aqsa perimeter.

This plan obviously targets between 15 to 20 long-standing Palestinian properties owned by Jerusalemite families and consists of buildings and Islamic endowments, the statement said.

It added that Bab Al-Silsila is one of the most important historic corridors leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and targeting it is tantamount to a methodical Israeli policy that aims to depopulate the perimeter of the Mosque and impose novel [Judaic realities] inside the Old City.

The Governorate further recalled that the region in question includes preeminent historic and Islamic landmarks. It added that the occupation authorities had taken over 116 dunams of the Old City lands in 1968 under the pretext of [public utility].

This, the statement notes, formed the basis for the expansion of the so-called "Jewish Quarter" from five dunams before 1948 to almost 133 dunams later on, mostly through the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian property and its conversion into what is referred to as "state property". (QNA)