JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) - Israel razed two unfinished Palestinian homes and part of a factory in East Jerusalem on Tuesday after months of avoiding demolitions in the disputed city which have drawn Western criticism, activists and witnesses said.
Dozens of armed border police guarded an excavator as it tore apart the foundations of the cement structures in the Issawiya section of East Jerusalem. There was no violence, a police spokesman said.
Activists with the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, a European-funded group that monitors the issue, said nobody lived in the buildings which were still under construction. The demolitions were the first in East Jerusalem since late 2009, a committee spokeswoman said.
Spokesmen for the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, had no immediate comment.
Israel has said in the past it destroys any buildings put up without permits. Palestinians say it is impossible to obtain permits from Israeli authorities, particularly in Jerusalem, a city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But Israel has refrained from implementing demolition orders this year in the Jerusalem area, after U.S. pressure not to take steps that could jeopardise peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervened several months ago to postpone city plans to demolish about 20 homes in another part of East Jerusalem, where the Israeli municipality is planning a new housing project.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem as part of its capital in a move never recognised internationally, after capturing the area along with the West Bank in a 1967 war. Palestinians want the city to be the capital of a future state.
