‘Israel’ forces Palestinian to self-demolish commercial structure in Jerusalem

Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation authorities on Thursday night forced a Palestinian resident to self-demolish his commercial structure in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood, south of the occupied city of Jerusalem.

At the order of the Israeli occupation municipality, the family of Jaabeis self-demolished its commercial structure and walls in Jabal al-Mukabber to avoid paying an additional fine in exorbitant demolition costs to the Israeli municipality (the staff and the police) if it carried out the demolition.

The owners of the structure said they received a demolition order by the Israeli Occupation Court, under the pretext of building without a permit, that they must self-demolish their structure.

The family said it was forced to carry out the demolition by itself to avoid paying an additional fine in exorbitant demolition costs to the Israeli municipality.

The owner of the structure, who is a new groom and got married last year, said his house is also under Israel’s threat of demolition.

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 eviction and displacement of Palestinian residents.

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.