Two Palestinian brothers from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan were forced today to demolish their own home by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem.
Feras and Iyad Da’na said they were forced to demolish their own home, currently under construction, after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against it, under the pretext it is being without a permit.
The two brothers said unless they did so, they would have been forced to pay around $15,000 to the Israeli municipality if it carried out the demolition on its own.
Two Palestinian brothers from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan embarked today on demolishing their own home after being pressured to do so by Israeli municipality of Jerusalem, in order to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the municipality carries out the demolition. pic.twitter.com/VEmPQhHAqo
— Zaher Bassam (@zaher_bassam) June 21, 2020
They pointed out that they tried hard many times to get a building permit to build on their own land, but all in vain.
Palestinians in Jerusalem are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is virtually impossible. In fact, the Israeli municipality aims at keeping the city’s Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its illegal Jewish residents by approving the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jewish settlements.
According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, the”destruction of the neighborhood denies its residents the right to housing, which is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living as it is defined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“In addition, the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the occupying state to destroy the property of residents of occupied territory, who benefit from the status of protected persons,” B’tselem added.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
