A Palestinian family on Sunday was forced by the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) to demolish two of its homes in Jabel Mukaber neighborhood southeast of Jerusalem at the pretext of illegal construction.
Mohamed Ja’abis said that members of his family started today to demolish the homes after they failed to obtain a construction permit from the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem.
Ja’abis added that 12 individuals including six children were living in these two houses which had been built about 10 years ago.
Israeli municipal employees had given the family last week five days to knock down the homes or else it would have to pay the municipality about 30000 US dollars in demolition expenses.
Ja’abis explained that the Israeli district court had already rejected a petition filed by the family to cancel the demolition order which was issued by the municipality on allegations that the houses were built in an area classified as green.
The IOA has classified about 40 percent of the Palestinian-owned land in Occupied Jerusalem as green spaces and thus prohibits any construction in those areas.
