Israeli forces on Sunday raided the neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem and delivered several home demolition notices to Palestinian residents, according to Wafa news agency.
Staff from Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality raided the neighborhood, under the protection of Israeli police forces, and delivered notices to a number of Palestinians informing them of the municipality’s intent to demolish their homes, under the pretext of construction without a permit.
Last week, Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in Silwan, leaving a Palestinian family of nine homeless.
Occupation wants Palestinians to pay for homes demolitions in Araqib village fine 500,00$ https://t.co/Nj7tVTmLqV pic.twitter.com/GN4TrbRMlA
— Dr Nessreen (@nzayed07) March 29, 2016
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in East Jerusalem, though the Jerusalem municipality has claimed that compared to the Jewish population, they receive a disproportionately low number of permit applications from Palestinian communities, which also see high approval ratings.
For Jewish Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem’s illegal settlements, the planning, marketing, development, and infrastructure are funded and executed by the Israeli government. By contrast, in Palestinian neighborhoods, all the burden falls on individual families to contend with a lengthy permit application that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
According to Daniel Seidemann of the NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, “Since 1967, the Government of Israel has directly engaged in the construction of 55,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem; in contrast, fewer than 600 units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the last of which were built 40 years ago. So much for (Jerusalem Mayor Nir) Barkat’s claim ‘we build for everyone.’”
Hundreds of members in Combatants for Peace, Forum of Bereaved Families March against occupation, wall, house demolitions in Walaje, WB pic.twitter.com/nh7JQEL2Oo
— Haggai Matar (@Ha_Matar) September 16, 2017
According to United Nations documentation, 202 Palestinians were displaced and 116 buildings have been demolished in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year as of October 9th. Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem reached a record high in 2016.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
