Israel demolishes Palestinian home, displaces 35 residents in Jerusalem

A view from demolition area as an Israeli excavator demolishes 2-storey building on 10 May 2022 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

Israeli forces take security measure as Israeli excavators demolish 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agenc]

An Israeli excavator demolishes 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

An Israeli excavator demolishes 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinians on 10 May 2022 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

Israeli forces take security measure as Israeli excavators demolish 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agenc]

Residents, who watched the demolition of their home, experience sadness as Israeli excavators demolish 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Residents, who watched the demolition of their home, experience sadness as Israeli excavators demolish 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

An Israeli excavator demolishes 2-storey building, belonging to Palestinian al-Rajbi family, claiming that they are “unlicensed” in Silwan Neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Jerusalem on May 10, 2022. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli occupation forces yesterday demolished the Al-Rajabi family house in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood, displacing 35 members of the family, witnesses said.

Fares Al-Rajabi, 34, said that 35 residents, most of them children, had been left with no shelter, adding that the staff of the Israeli municipality arrived at 9am, broke the doors, evicted the residents and demolished the three storey house.

He said that the family received a final notice about the demolition during the holiday of Eid Al-Fitr last week. “We paid 50,000 shekels [$14,470] to stop the demolition, but all of this was useless,” he said.

The three storey house consisted of five apartments and several shops owned by the family.

This video was taken today during the demolition of the Rajabi family home in Silwan, Jerusalem.

On top of destroyed Palestinian homes, the Israeli government plans to build a religious tourist park where King David supposedly had a garden about 3,000 years ago. pic.twitter.com/eeGEGIr7hX

— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) May 10, 2022

“We paid about 300,000 shekels [$86,850] in different types of fees to the Israeli authorities, attempting to get permits and building licenses,” he said. “We hired lawyers and engineers, but all of that was useless,” he continued.

READ: EU blasts Israeli plan to evict Palestinian families in occupied West Bank

“Our house was demolished because of a political decision, not a legal one.”

“They do not issue permits for us. They adopt ethnic cleansing and displacement policies. Why did Israel cancel the demolition order for a Palestinian house after its ownership was moved to a settler family?”

Demolitions of Arab-owned buildings in Silwan and other parts of occupied East Jerusalem are common, as Arabs in the city face difficulties in obtaining building permits from the occupation’s municipality.