Palestinian forced to self-demolish own house in occupied Jerusalem

JERUSALEM: Israeli occupation authorities forced today a Palestinian citizen to self-demolish his own house in the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Al-Isawiya, citing unpermitted construction as a pretext. Witnesses told WAFA that Nedal Elayan, the owner, demolished his own house after being pressed into doing so by the all-Israeli municipality. Elayan had no choice but to do so in order to avoid paying exorbitant fees to the Israeli municipality in the event that its crews carried out the demolition on their own. Facing a series of raids by the Israeli municipality crews, Elayan ultimately took the decision of demolishing his own home. This decision came after enduring a hefty fine amounting to over one million shekels imposed by the Israeli municipality. The municipality had further threatened to demolish the building on its own, whereby Elayan would have paid approximately 450,000 shekels in demolition costs. Under the pretext of building without a permit, which is almost never granted to Palestinian s in the occupied city, the Israeli municipality has been demolishing or forcing Palestinians to demolish their homes in Jerusalem as part of a policy aimed to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem. At the same time, the municipality and government facilitate the construction of tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jewish settlers with the goal of offsetting the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city. Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as "residents" whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years. They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction o f Israel's separation wall. Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA