In news from the Middle East, the Jerusalem city council has ordered the homes of about 1,000 Palestinians to be demolished. The Guardian of London reports this would amount to the city’s largest mass demolitions in recent history. The city council said the homes were built illegally and need to be removed in order to restore the area as a national park. But Israeli human rights activists say the government is trying to forcibly remove Palestinians from an area that is needed to expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.