Israel forces Palestinian to demolish his home in Jerusalem

A Palestinian on Saturday demolished parts of his own home in Jerusalem’s southern occupied town of Silwan after the Israeli municipality threatened to demolish the property and force him to cover the costs.

Abdel Moghni Al-Dweik told Quds Press that the Israeli municipality informed him that the occupation bulldozers will demolish his house and that he would have to pay some 80,000 shekels ($22,000) for the demolition costs, unless he demolished it himself.

Al-Dweik’s home, which is located in Silwan’s Al-Bustan neighbourhood, is about 80 metres long and the occupation has ordered him to demolish 60 metres of it under the pretext that it was built without a permit.

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He pointed out that he lives in the house with his wife and three children.

Israeli authorities refuse to provide the Palestinians with the required building permits to build their properties in Jerusalem, in an effort to eradicate the Palestinian identity of the occupied city. Last week occupation forces approved the construction of hundreds of illegal settlement units in the occupied West bank and East Jerusalem.