Tuesday May 7 2013, A Palestinian man from occupied East Jerusalem had to demolish his own home in order to avoid high fines and expenses after an Israeli court decided to demolish his property under the pretest that it was built without a construction permit.Resident Azzam Al-Afeefy, said that he was forced to demolish his home in the Old City, after an Israeli Court in Jerusalem informed him that should the City Council demolish his home, he will face huge fines, including the large bill for the cost of demolishing his property, and for removing the rubble.
On Monday morning, April 29, 2013, Israeli soldiers demolished three Palestinian homes in the At-Tour area, in occupied East Jerusalem, rendering at least 30 Palestinians homeless.
Mohammad Abu Al-Hummus, coordinator of the At-Tour and Al-Esawiyya Follow-up Committee, told the Radio Bethlehem 2000, in Bethlehem, that two army bulldozers, accompanied by several military jeeps, invaded the area, and demolished three homes that belong to Gheith family.
Abu Al-Hummus added that the army previously forced the residents out of their homes three times under the pretext that they were built without construction permits.
He also stated that the area in question witnesses frequent attacks and violations carried out by Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers at it falls under the area Israel illegally classifies as a “National Garden”.
On Wednesday April 24, 2013, Israeli bulldozers of the Jerusalem City Council, accompanied by Israeli soldiers and police officers, demolished three vacant brand new apartments in Al-Hardoub neighborhood in the At-Tour town in occupied East Jerusalem.
Commenting on the attack, Palestinian Field Researcher at the Jerusalem Affairs Department of the Palestinian National Authority, Ahmad Sob-Laban, stated that what Israel is doing in Jerusalem is a systematic policy that aims at removing the Palestinian population from the city.
Sob-Laban added that since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, it only granted the Palestinians 4000 construction permits comparing to 53.000 permits granted to Israeli settlers.
Also in April, the army demolished an under-construction home in Shiokh Al-Arroub town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The 150 square/meter home belongs to Ya’coub Abu An-Nawa.
The soldiers also demolished another home, and an under-construction home, that belong to resident Hazim Jawabra, in the same area, and uprooted olive trees, grapevines and fig trees, in addition to demolishing an under-construction home and walls that belong to resident Omar Younis Mheisin.
According to data collected by the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) and was published several few months ago, Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes is a systematic policy that aims at forcing the Palestinians to leave Jerusalem in order to maintain Jewish majority.
ICHAD estimates that Israel demolished at least 24.145 homes in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip since 1967.
