The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Monday forced a Jerusalemite citizen to demolish his home in Sur Baher town southeast of the holy city.
The homeowner Mohamed al-Khatib said that the Israeli municipality forced him to knock down the house he was preparing to live in after his wedding.
Khatib added that he used manual demolition tools to carry out the measure to avoid paying exorbitant money to the municipality.
He said that the municipality had previously issued a stop-work order against the house and later allowed him to finish it before changing its decision and freezing its construction as a prelude to demolishing it.
He pointed out that he had paid 70000 shekels to the IOA to have the demolition measure frozen.
Palestinians in east Jerusalem are forced to build without permits due to the Israeli municipality’s refusal to grant them building permits or approve zoning plans for their areas.
Sur Baher is one of many Palestinian areas in east Jerusalem that are facing home demolitions and displacement campaigns as part of Israel’s frenzied Judaization activities in the holy city.
