‘Israel’ forces 8-member Palestinian family to self-demolish house in occupied Jerusalem
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday forced a Palestinian family to self-demolish its house in Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in Silwan in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
At the order of the Israeli occupation municipality, the family of Faisal Al-Ja’bari self-demolished its house in Wadi al-Joz to avoid paying an exorbitant fine of the demolition costs to the Israeli municipality (the staff and the police) if it carried out the demolition.
The house was built in 2016 and 8 people have been living in it, including Faisal’s married son and his son’s wife.
فيديو يوثق الدمار الذي حل بمنزل المقدسي فيصل الجعبري عقب إجباره بقرار من سلطات الاحتلال على هدمه أو أن يدفع مبالغ طائلة وتهدمه آليات الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/Fa2wwGy1ix
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) January 19, 2022
"الله اللي بعوّض" .. هذه هي الكلمات الوحيدة التي يرددها فيصل الجعبري من حي واد الجوز بالقدس خلال هدمه منزله بيديه مجبراً من قبل سلطات الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/2jyWs7H3yU
— AlQastal القسطل (@AlQastalps) January 19, 2022
“In spite of the heavy rain, I will sleep with my children on the ground of my own house which I was forced to self-destruct by the Israeli occupation authorities,” said Faisal Al-Ja’bari.
He added, “We will not leave our own house. No matter what happens, we will stay here. There is nothing to do.”
The family said that they self-demolished the house despite the fact that they had been asked, over the past years, to pay heavy fines to the Israeli occupation municipality.
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, the occupation forces also demolished another family’s house, the Salhiya family, after raiding their house in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, violently arresting and assaulting family members, displacing 18 people.
Using the pretext of illegal building, ‘Israel’ demolishes houses and structures on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the Israeli occupation municipality and the occupation government built tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favour of the Israeli settlers in the occupied city.
‘Israel’ has been moving its citizens into the occupied Jerusalem neighbourhoods since the 1980s. This has resulted in numerous human rights violations, including the forced displacement of Palestinian residents and home demolitions.
Hundreds of Palestinian families are being threatened with forced displacement and house demolitions by illegal settler groups, fully supported by the Israeli government.
There are nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
The Israeli court had previously rejected many appeals filed by the residents of Jerusalem to stop demolitions and forced displacement.
During the year of 2021, according to the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry, Israeli forces demolished over 173 Palestinian-owned structures in Jerusalem and issued over 200 demolition orders against houses.
