The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Sunday morning displaced a Palestinian family after forcing it to demolish its own house in Jabel Mukaber southeast of Jerusalem at the pretext of unlicensed construction.
A few days ago an Israeli municipal crew handed the homeowner Khalil Shekirat a demolition notice before a police officer phoned him today and asked him to carry out the measure with his own hands or else the municipality would raze the house and make him pay a lot of money.
Shekirat started in the morning to empty the house as a prelude to demolishing it.
Meanwhile another house is also threatened with demolition in the same neighborhood after its owner recently received a notice in this regard from the Israeli municipality
According to the family of Matar a municipal crew came to their house (built in 2011) on the second day of the Eid al-Adha holiday and ordered them to demolish it within 21 days.
The family was able to have the demolition order frozen over the past years and paid fines of 30000 shekels but the Israeli municipality decided a few days ago to issue a final demolition order against the house.
The majority of Jerusalemite citizens had to comply with such Israeli 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.
