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Israel fines Palestinian $30,000 after demolishing his East Jerusalem home

A Palestinian home located in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan was demolished because it allegedly lacked the necessary construction permit

June 23, 2020 at 2:53 pm

A Palestinian home located in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan was demolished because it allegedly lacked the necessary construction permit, reported Wafa news agency.

Palestinians are rarely granted building permits by the Israeli occupation authorities, especially in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem-based Wadi Hilweh Information Centre said that the occupation municipality crews, accompanied by a large number of Israeli occupation forces, stormed the Al-Bustan neighbourhood to surround the house of Mohammad Al-Rajabi and proceeded to demolish it.

Al-Rajabi said the municipality issued the demolition order against his house, which was built two months ago, and did not give him the right to appeal the order.

READ: Palestinian Jerusalemites shouldn’t be left alone to face the Israeli bulldozers

An Israeli court also gave the family a deadline that expired last week to raze the property themselves or pay the municipality $30,000 to carry out the demolition.

A restrictive planning regime applied by Israeli authorities makes it almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in Area C, impeding the development of adequate housing, infrastructure and livelihoods.

This latest violation against the residents of East Jerusalem comes two weeks before the planned Israeli annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank as part of the US’ so-called ‘deal of the century’.