Israeli occupation authorities today forced a Palestinian owner to self-demolish his own house in occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukabir, citing unpermitted construction as a pretext.
Witnesses told WAFA that Qusai Sarkhi, the owner, demolished a room which he had recently annexed to his house, after being pressed into doing so by the all-Israeli municipality. Sarkhi said he had no choice but to do so in order to avoid paying exorbitant fees to the Israeli municipality in the event that its crews carried out the demolition on their own.
Sarkhi’s mother said the family had paid exorbitant fees to demand postponement of the demolition, but were shocked by an Israeli demolition order asking the family to embark on the demolition on their own or otherwise pay heavy costs to the municipality.
Using the pretext of building without a permit, which is rarely granted to Palestinians in the occupied city, the Israeli municipality has demolished or forced Palestinians to demolish hundreds of Palestinian-owned houses as part of a policy aimed to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with the goal of offsetting the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as “residents” whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.
They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel’s separation wall.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency