RAMALLAH, August 17 (JMCC) - Israeli officials are planning to demolish 30 homes in the Palestinian neighborhood of Kafr Aqab, an adviser to the Palestinian president has disclosed.

Kafr Aqab is located in between Ramallah and Jerusalem, much of it inside Israel's Jerusalem municipal boundaries but on the Ramallah side of the Wall that Israel has constructed through the West Bank.

The demolition of these homes is intended to use the territory of Palestinian citizens in that area to connect the settlements, as well as isolate Jerusalem completely from the rest of the West Bank, said Ahmed Ruweidy, in charge of the Jerusalem file in the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The families were advised of the decision and given one week for appeal. On Thursday, a petition was filed with the Israeli High Court, which gave the state until August 22 to respond to the case.

The president's office is trying to activate international intervention on the issue, which Ruweidy says is likely only the beginning of a series of demolitions in the area.