The Israeli population in the East Jerusalem has swelled since 1967. It is estimated there were 50,000 Israelis in East Jerusalem in 1979. By 1993, there were 168,000 Israelis and 154,000 Palestinians. Palestinians believe the future of the city and control of the West Bank will be determined by local politics, and they believe control of those politics, by virtue of numbers, has shifted to the Israelis. That's one of the reasons they don't want new construction in the area.
More Israeli citizens means the balance of power shifts in their favour.
Jews, of course, believe this is desirable. Arabs will fight strenuously against it. So the bulldozers arrive to do their work. To one community they are building a rightful future. To the other, they are machines of destruction of a homeland.