‘Israel’ demolishes house of 11-member Palestinian family in Jerusalem

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday demolished a house of a 11-member Palestinian family in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood, south of the occupied city of Jerusalem, displacing its residents.

Using the pretext of building without a permit, the Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon continued the demolition of a house owned by Jerusalemite Ata Ja’afra in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood. The house was built 10 years ago and 11 people live in it.

On 14 December, 2021, the occupation forces demolished Ja’afra’s house and today, the forces continued and completed the demolition operation.

During the demolition of the house, the occupation forces prevented the journalists from documenting the incident.

The Jerusalemite Ata Ja’afra refused to self-demolish his own house. Thus, the Israeli occupation municipality ordered the house to be demolished under the pretext of building without a permit.

“A while ago, the Israeli occupation municipality ordered my house to be demolished, threatening me to self-demolish it. Otherwise I have to pay an exorbitant fine of the demolition costs to the municipality if it carries out the demolition,” Ata Ja’afra told Al-Qastal.

Ata added, “I completely refused to self-demolish my own house. It’s hard to do that. It’s really hard to destroy what you have been building all over the past years for your family and your children and their future.”

Earlier today, the occupation forces also raided the Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood and started demolishing a Palestinian-owned medical center that serves the neighborhood residents.

Watch | Israeli occupation forces demolish a Palestinian health center in Jabal Mukaber neighborhood in occupied #Jerusalem, this morning.#FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/DCYfLHtoFS

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 4, 2022

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.

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 house 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.

Israeli courts had previously rejected many appeals filed by the residents of Jerusalem to stop demolitions and forced displacement.