LONDON: Two Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem have self-demolished their homes to avoid steep financial penalties imposed by the Israeli municipality for building without a permit on Sunday.
Israel denies building permits to Palestinians in Jerusalem in most cases, while it carries out planned expansion of Jewish settlements in the city and the occupied West Bank.
From 1991 to 2018, Israeli authorities approved only 16.5 percent of building permits in Palestinian neighborhoods, while the remaining permits were issued for Israeli neighborhoods in West Jerusalem and settlements, according to the organization Peace Now.
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said that the Quraan family was forced to demolish their home in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Halawanis also demolished their residential building, comprising six housing units, in Beit Hanina, located north of Jerusalem. As a result, around 30 individuals, including children, have been left without homes.
In the case that Israeli authorities carry out the destruction, the families will be required to pay for the cost of the demolition, which could vary and may total hundreds of thousands of Shekels.
