The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Monday that an Israeli court fined a Palestinian family $10,000 for building its Silwan home without a permit.
Widad Tawil, the owner of the home, has been given until October to get a permit for the house from the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem. In the event they cannot do so she and her eight children will face demolition of their family home.
Palestinians complain that is impossible to obtain permission to build housing from the Israeli authorities. Many face no choice but to build without official permission opening themselves up to the risk of a large fine, demolition as well as the bill for the demolition.
Silwan is a highly contested neighbourhood in East Jerusalem whose Palestinian inhabitants have faced incursion by Israeli settlers and state parks such as the planned Talmudic gardens which will require the displacement of over 1,600 Palestinian inhabitants to complete.
