A Palestinian facing eviction from the flashpoint east Jerusalem Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood, also known as Sheikh Jarrah, threatened on Monday to blow up gas canisters at his home rather than let his family be forced out.
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Scores of police in riot gear surrounded the property from early morning during an hours-long stand-off. Roads were sealed off around the area, about 1 kilometer (one-half mile) north of Jerusalem's Old City walls.
Jerusalem's municipality plants to build a school on the land.
"I will burn the house and everything in it, I will not leave here, from here to the grave, because there is no life, no dignity," Mahmoud Salhiyeh said as he stood on the roof of the building, surrounded by gas canisters.
Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said on Monday a court had ruled the case was one of illegal squatting.
"You can't hold the stick at both ends by both demanding that the municipality take action on welfare for Arab residents and oppose the building of educational establishments for their welfare," he wrote on Twitter.
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