Palestinian sources in the occupied East Jerusalem reported on Monday that the Jerusalem Municipality demolished one Palestinian house in Jerusalem after claiming that it was illegally constructed; the municipality intends to demolish four more homes under the same claims.
The house was leveled after the Israeli army, police, and a bulldozers belonging to Jerusalem municipality invaded Al Tour neighborhood in Jerusalem and leveled the house of Malouk Kathim Abdullah.
Abdullah did not receive any eviction notice or any court order to demolish her house, the Palestine News Network reported.
The attack was carried out by dozens of policemen and soldiers who surrounded the area and invaded several neighborhoods.
The soldiers and policemen sealed the area and bared the residents from entering or leaving it. Some soldiers topped nearby houses after breaking into them.
“We were attacked by a group of soldiers and policemen who broke into our home and removed part of our furniture out”, Abdullah stated, “The rest of our furniture and belongings were left in the house and were smashed under its rubble”.
Malouk was living in the house along with her husband and ten children since six months. The construction cost was 200.000 New Israeli Shekels.
Also on Monday, the Jerusalem Municipality Court delayed the demolishing of the house of Ghadeer Abu Ghalia for twenty-four hours after he paid an amount of 60.000 Shekels
Last month, the municipality demolished part of Abu Ghalia’s house where he lives with his wife and four children aged 1 – 8. The demolishing was temporary frozen after he paid a 40.000 NIS fine.
The house is 150 square meters, and its construction cost was 350.000 NIS. The family has been living their since four months.
The Jerusalem municipality court also delayed the demolishing of two houses that belong to members of Al Razim and Abu Sneina families in Silwan neighborhood in Jerusalem.
The demolishing order was temporary halted after the two families paid 50000 NIS each.
In Jabal Al Bab area, in Al Ezariyya town in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem municipality halted the demolishing of the house of Khalid Al Basha after he paid 50000 NIS fine.
It is worth mentioning that Al Basha was compulsorily moved by the Israeli authorities from his house in the Negev in the sixties.
Jihad Abu Zneid, a Palestinian legislator from Jerusalem, denounced the demolishing in Jerusalem and the Israeli intensions to level four more houses there.
Abu Zneid added that Israel is continuously demolishing Palestinian houses in Jerusalem in an attempt to empty the city from its native Palestinian residents.
“This is a conspiracy against the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem”, Abu Zneid stated, “The demolishing comes to serve the Israeli policies that aim at creating and imposing a new reality in the city”.
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are continuously facing Israeli violations that aim at forcing them out of the city, especially after the construction of the Annexation Wall.
They are repeatedly denied and barred from constructing new homes, or even from modifying and expanding their existing ones.
Many Palestinian areas around Jerusalem became totally isolated by the Wall, and the residents who depend on Jerusalem in their daily livelihood and education found themselves separated and will have to choose between losing their Jerusalem identity cards by moving to the West Bank or remain in their isolated areas.
