Israel delivers demolition notices to Arabs in Jerusalem

Israeli occupation forces have once again delivered demolition notices to Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan today.

Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that staff from the Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality, escorted by Israel Police, distributed demolition notices to several homes in Silwan under the pretext that they were built without the nearly impossible-to-obtain Israeli construction permits.

According to Wafa, staff from the Israeli water company Gihon cut off the water supply to a number of homes in Silwan under the pretext of accumulated debts.

Israeli forces on Sunday delivered demolition notices to the neighbourhood, and last week, forces demolished two homes in the area.

Read: ‘Sacrilegious’ occupation drowns Palestinian olive farm with sewage water

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in East Jerusalem.

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’.”

According to United Nations documentation, 202 Palestinians were displaced and 116 buildings have been demolished in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year to 9 October. Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem reached a record high in 2016.