10 Jerusalemite families threatened with displacement from their five-story apartment building in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of at-Tur have announced their rejection of the Israeli threats to fine them and demolish their homes.
The families now live in a constant state of fear because they expect the demolition of their building at any moment.
Maysar Abu Halawa one of the residents said that the Israeli court recently gave them until the end of the current month to evacuate the building as a prelude to demolishing it if they paid 200000 shekels during the next two days.
Should the families fail to pay this amount of money in two days Israeli bulldozers will knock down the building as soon as possible and they will have to pay a fine of 2000000 shekels.
The families had tried several times to obtain a construction permit and license their building but the Israeli municipality insisted on displacing them and destroying their homes.
The families have been living in that building since 2011 and since then the Israeli municipality has been persecuting them.
The majority of Jerusalemite citizens had to comply with such Israeli demolition orders to avoid paying exorbitant money to the IOA.
The Jerusalemites have no choice but to build without licenses because there are no structural maps that respond to the natural increase in their numbers and for that reason they are denied house permits.
The IOA also imposes building restrictions on the Palestinian natives in Jerusalem and makes it hard for them to obtain construction licenses.
Israel’s systematic demolition of Palestinian homes in Occupied Jerusalem is believed to be aimed at psychologically destroying the Jerusalemite families in an attempt to force them to move from the holy city.
