A Palestinian resident was forced to demolish his own house overlooking the al-Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem’s Old City, citing unpermitted construction as a pretext, according to the house owner, Hassan Ja’afar. The owner said that he was forced today to demolish his 50-square-meter house, where he lived with his family, or else the Israeli municipality would demolish it and obligate him to pay the exorbitant costs. Using the pretext of building without a permit, which is rarely granted to Palestinians in the occupied city, the Israeli municipality has condemned hundreds of Palestinian-owned houses as part of a policy aimed at restricting Palestinian expansion and number in occupied Jerusalem. The occupation municipality notified the owner of the decision to demolish the house within a short period of time, despite the follow-up procedures he was undertaking to obtain a permit. At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA